Notre Dame to Bring Boost to Hawaii Bowl
Sunday, December 14th, 2008Hawaii made it to another bowl a year after Colt Brennan lead the team to it’s first ever BCS birth with an undefeated regular season. Although it’s not quite a BCS, Hawaii has something to cheer about with this years bowl selection.
Good for the football program of UH and also good for Hawaii tourism in general is the selection of Notre Dame to play the University of Hawaii in this years Hawaii Bowl on December 24th, 2008 at Aloha Stadium. The Warriors, 7-6, will take on a struggling 6-6 Notre Dame.
Notre Dame, who’s strength of schedule is usually a high point, played some weaker teams this year and still had a subpar season. Charlie Weis was on the verge of being fired before a late contract renewal and the Notre Dame hopefull didn’t think they’d be seeing a bowl game this year.
Hawaii on the other hand played above what the critics thought after loosing several key starters such as Colt Brennan to the draft and also their head coach, June Jones. The surprise leaving of June Jones, coming after an undefeated season, left new comer Greg McMackin with some big shoes to fill.
The game also comes as a big boost to Hawaii tourism which has been suffering lately with the economic turmoil that has most of America and the world cutting down on vacations to paradise. Tickets for the game have been selling fast and with the game coming in the middle of the week, on Christmas Eve, the hope is that most people will make an extended trip of it. The Notre Dame faithful is usually represented well at any bowl game so there can be hope that Charlie Weis will be able to convince them to make the trip to Honolulu with him.
