TUCSON, Ariz. >> Once upon a time, games like today’s 4:45 p.m. visit to Arizona were the kind the University of Hawaii football team thrived and built a reputation on.

Give the Rainbow Warriors a lower-echelon Pac-12 (or, in earlier days, Pac-10) team and if UH didn’t win, chances were they at least made things interesting.

They almost screamed “upset alert.”

In Bob Wagner’s head coaching tenure (1987-95) they screamed a lot more, as UH went 5-1 against the Pac-10. More recently, between 2005 and 2009, UH was 4-3 against the Pac-12.

Since then UH is 2-10, including that 51-31 loss to California in the season opener.

Just how much the perception of UH’s prowess against the Pac-12 has changed is underlined by a Las Vegas point spread that has UH a 24-point underdog to a struggling Arizona (1-1) team that will be hard pressed to finish this season with a winning record.

And, indeed, there are openings for UH here, if only the ‘Bows can play solidly enough themselves to take advantage.

For as much as UH struggled with Tennessee Martin last week before prevailing 41-36, the Wildcats’ frustrations with Grambling State were bigger. Arizona was down 21-3 at halftime before rallying for a 31-21 victory that raised more concerns than it answered.

That, then, is the question in tonight’s Pac-12 Network TV football-after-dark game: How much has UH improved from a 1-2 start?

It is a timely one, since this is the last of four nonconference games before UH embarks on Mountain West Conference play Oct. 1 against Nevada, and time the ‘Bows started putting the pieces together and lessening errors.

Things like missed tackles, poorly thrown passes, big plays and penalties that have haunted them while being outscored 150-75.

Remarkably UH has emerged from its early gauntlet with few injuries and, so far, little the worse for the 22,000 miles traveled to date.

Meanwhile, Arizona is without its starting quarterback, Anu Solomon, for a second week due to a knee injury, and two running backs, fullback Jamardre Cobb (knee) and backup tailback Orlando Bradford, who was jailed Wednesday on charges of domestic abuse.

The task of taking on Pac-12 teams has gotten tougher in recent years as the gap in television revenues has widened. UH receives $2.3 million in TV rights fees annually, near the top in the 12-team MWC. But even that is a drop in the bucket compared to the Pac-12, where schools bank upward of $20 million each annually.

That provides a lot of visibility and buys a lot of shiny new recruiting-friendly trappings, such as the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility attached to Arizona Stadium. It also pays for more experienced coaches and permits the casting of a wider recruiting net.

The days when UH could expect to stand helmet-to-helmet with the bottom half of the Pac-12 — in recruiting or on game days — are steadily diminishing.

And it behooves the ’Bows to take advantage of the few opportunities left to them.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.