ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. >> From the University of Hawaii football team’s hotel here on Rainbow Road beneath the Sandia Mountains, the Rio Grande Valley unfolds before you.

On a clear day, like the one weather forecasters promise for today’s 10 a.m. (Hawaii Time) game against New Mexico, you can see far into the distance. And, if you are the Rainbow Warriors, even the path to bowl eligibility.

At 4-3 (1-2 in the Mountain West Conference), the Warriors need to play but .500 ball, winning three of their remaining six games, to be eligible for the postseason.

Two weeks ago, amid an impressive 4-1 start, that task looked like a mortal lock. But one-sided blowouts by 14th-ranked Boise State (59-37) and Air Force (56-26) have taken away some of that room for error. It also remains to be seen how much they might have shaken Hawaii’s confidence in the process.

This is where the Lobos, today’s homecoming-celebrating hosts, come in. They are 2-5 (0-3 MWC), mired in a four-game losing streak, and, on paper at this point, they represent perhaps the most winnable game remaining on the schedule.

That UH is a 10-point favorite on the Las Vegas betting lines while 3,221 miles away from home and at 5,100 feet in elevation says a lot.

It says, for example, that this is a game the Rainbow Warriors should — and really need to — win.

After today, the five teams — Fresno State, San Jose State, Nevada-Las Vegas, San Diego State and Army — remaining on UH’s schedule have a combined 17-17 record.

But we also remember what happened last year when UH bolted to a 6-1 start only to lose four games in succession and make bowl eligibility more of a late-season drama than it needed to be.

As you look at what’s left of UH’s regular-season schedule after today, surging San Diego State (6-1) and rebounding Fresno State (3-3) pose the biggest threats as they do annually. And, after what Air Force pulled off, Army and its triple option, despite a 3-4 record, shouldn’t be discounted.

That leaves San Jose State (3-4) and UNLV (2-5), who have still managed to surprise this season. Ask Arkansas and Vanderbilt, who have felt the sting of major upset losses at home.

More immediately, there is the Lobo factor. For a program that has had its struggles, New Mexico has been a particular thorn in the loss column for UH. Hawaii has lost seven games in a row — three in Albuquerque and four in Aloha Stadium — to the Lobos. In four of those seasons the Lobos had losing records.

Four years ago, in UH’s last visit, the Lobos rallied in the fourth quarter of the only road game the ‘Bows led in that season, to pull out a 28-27 victory.

Due to New Mexico’s bolting from the Western Athletic Conference in 1999 and alternating schedules in the Mountain West since UH came aboard in 2012, the last time UH won in Albuquerque was 1987. That it was Bob Wagner’s rookie season as head coach with Heikoti Fakava and Walter Briggs leading the way, 41-31, suggests how long it has been.

For now, a victory today makes for a much clearer path to the postseason.

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