Never mind that the University of Hawai'i football team will probably never play in the New Mexico Bowl (the great grandson of them all?), the Warriors have a strong rooting interest in its christening anyway.

UH, a team more than 3,000 miles removed from Albuquerque, immediately becomes the big winner next week if the NCAA's postseason football licensing subcommittee certifies the game and its Western Athletic Conference tie-in. That's because it would open the way for the Warriors to remain a fixture in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, assuring a postseason presence in bowl-eligible years.

The way it stands now, the WAC guarantees bowl berths to only its top two finishers. And, with just two current bowl tie-ins, the Hawai'i Bowl and the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, the possibility of the Warriors being shut out of their own backyard bowl has hung over them for years in which they finished third or fourth in the WAC and the conference was unable to place higher finishing teams elsewhere.

But if the New Mexico Bowl, which plans to match WAC and Mountain West teams, is licensed, WAC commissioner Karl Benson said conference members who once steadfastly opposed more than the three-year commitment to UH have agreed to give the Hawai'i Bowl the option of taking the bowl-eligible Warriors.

"They understand the issues and they understand the dynamics," Benson said.

They now know that no other WAC member would lure even a fraction of the fans or make the conference any money. Witness Nevada's appearance against Central Florida that drew an announced gathering of 16,134 in December.

That is a guarantee of a postseason appearance if UH is bowl eligible, no small consideration for a team 2,500 miles from the next nearest bowl and the easiest to dismiss.

Of the seven bowl NCAA games UH has appeared in, only one was outside the state, the 1992 Holiday Bowl, and then it took the most decorated season in school history — a 10-2 regular-season record, a share of the WAC title and a national ranking.

In periods without locally based bowl games, UH has had been shut out of the postseason four times when it had eight-win or better seasons, including the 9-3 2001 season.

The chances of landing a postseason spot away from these shores now are, maybe, one in 10 given the reality that bids are awarded not based on merit but how many fans participating teams can bring.

Once the New Mexico Bowl is in place, the Warriors annual bowl hopes will rest in their own hands, which is all any team can really expect.

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