In college football it sometimes seems there are printed guidelines and regulations for just about everything.

There is even a flip sheet that tells coaches at which junctures they are best-advised to go for a two-point conversion or just kick the extra point.

But there is nothing that spells out where, exactly, the crossover point is between an impressive offensive performance and just plain running up the score. There is no Emily Post book of etiquette setting down what constitutes pouring it on.

We bring this up because, beginning in oh, say about sometime in the second quarter tomorrow night against Northern Colorado at Aloha Stadium, it could become a dilemma for head coach June Jones and the University of Hawai'i football team. And, not for the only time this season, either.

With a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback, what figures to again be a high-powered offense and an abuser-friendly schedule, the question of how much on the scoreboard is enough should be a frequent one in 2007.

A ticklish one, too, for a team whose brand is built on putting up points and yards while taking aim at moving up in the national polls and competing for postseason awards. The Warriors walk a fine line here. They want to polish up their credentials and demonstrate their firepower but without coming off as ham-handed bullies. They seek to invite respect while avoiding perceptions of running it up.

Woe be the Warriors if they beat Northern Colorado, as much as a 59-point underdog, by 10 points. But slapping up 90 points probably wouldn't be read well, either.

Quarterback Colt Brennan likes to say it is the "Ws that matter most, whether you win by 5 points or 100 points." And you wish that were true. But especially when you are UH, a team more than 2,500 miles and several time zones removed from your nearest Division I-A competition and national audience, size does matter. It counts for plenty with pollsters and analysts. But so, too, does the ideal of sportsmanship.

History tells us striking that kind of a balance is tougher than attacking a two-deep zone. Witness the jibes at Brigham Young back in its heyday when victims sometimes suggested BYU meant Beat You Unmercifully. Or, the controversy another run-and-shoot UH team — the University of Houston — ignited in the 1990s. Houston, under John Jenkins, had no problem leaving its starting quarterback in long enough to throw for 11 touchdowns in an 84-21 victory over Eastern Washington in 1990.

Jones' track record says he calls off the dogs, witness Brennan going the distance but six times last season. And, indeed, Jones has said he plans to get backups Tyler Graunke and Inoke Funaki more work this season when the timing is right.

Divining those precise moments will be the challenge. Rather like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's famous line about pornography — "I'll know it when I see it" — the difference between impressing and outraging is often in the eye of the beholder.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.