12/24 Hawaii Bowl - Hawaii (7-5) vs. Notre Dame (6-6)
Notre Dame has not won a bowl game since January of 1994. I repeat. Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish, has not won a bowl game since January of 1994. 89 teams have won bowl games since the Irish last tasted postseason victory. For the first time in their history, Notre Dame lost to a team with eight losses (Syracuse).
Passing Offense - Hawaii. June Jones, Colt Brennan and the excellent wide receiving trio of Ryan Grice-Mullens, Davonne Bess and Jason Rivers may be gone, but these are still your pass happy Rainbow Warriors. Hawaii ranks 33rd in the country with 245.54 yards per game through the air, and Greg Alexander has found his groove at quarterback. The junior took over the starting job in the eighth game of the season, and has passed for 1,634 yards with 12 touchdowns (and 3 on the ground) against 4 interceptions. Notre Dame's over hyped sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen has been a disappointment once again. Clausen has thrown 20 touchdowns against 17 interceptions. He has thrown multiple picks in seven of his twelve games, including four against Boston College.
Rushing Offense - Hawaii. Both of these teams have abysmal rushing offenses, Notre Dame ranked 99th in the country and Hawaii ranked 107th. What gives Hawaii the advantage, in my opinion, is the running ability of Greg Alexander. Alexander has rushed for 155 yards and 3 touchdowns this season, including 57 yards against Utah State and 43 against Washington State. Neither team has a back with over 600 yards rushing.
Passing Defense - Hawaii. Notre Dame has a better pass defense statistically, ranking 18th in pass efficiency defense and 30th in pass defense compared to 63rd and 54th for Hawaii, but the Fighting Irish have faced only three or four quarterbacks that can be considered quality this season - Michigan State's Brian Hoyer (and that's a stretch), Purdue's Curtis Painter, Boston College's Chris Crane, and USC's Mark Sanchez. Hoyer was held to 143 yards (while Javon Ringer ran for 201 and two touchdowns) and Crane only threw for 79 yards and one touchdown(while Montel Harris ran for 120 yards), but Painter threw for 359 yards and two touchdowns and Sanchez threw for 267 yards and two scores as well. The Warriors held Florida's Tim Tebow to 137 yards and one touchdown, Fresno State's Tom Brandstater to 204 yards and three interceptions, Louisiana Tech's Taylor Bennett to 152 yards and 2 interceptions, and Cincinnati's Tony Pike 108 yards and 2 interceptions.
Rushing Defense - Hawaii. The reason why Notre Dame's passing offense looks so good statistically is because how dreadful their rushing defense is. Ringer ran for 201 yards and two touchdowns against the Irish, North Carolina's Shaun Draughn (who?) ran for 91 yards, Pittsburgh's LeSean McCoy ran for 169 yards, and Navy and USC each ran for over 170 yards. Defensive lineman David Veikune and linebacker Solomon Elimimian lead the Warriors on defense. Veikune leads Hawaii with 10 sacks and 18 tackles for a loss, while Elimimian is tops on the team with 112 tackles.
This is the first sweep I've had in terms of categories. Even the South Florida-Memphis blowout wasn't a sweep - I gave Memphis the edge in rushing offense. Expect this game, however, to be closer than that one. Hawaii is playing at their home field. The only road game the Irish have won this year was at 0-12 Washington. Hawaii by a score.
Sorry guy , but you better stick to knitting as you certainly do not have a clue about football and how it is played. ND could have put 60 points up on the Warriors if Weis had not gone to his 2/3rd strings on O and D so early in the game.
you were just extremely wrong weren't you
dude you were no where close like bob said
stick to knitting or playing NCAA 09.
Notre Dame killed Hawiia