ND/Hawaii <r>Just a few quick notes,,,we'll get into the details later,,,,<br/> <br/> This was a complete game in all areas for the Irish. ND kicked Hawaii's ass all over the field!!!<br/> <br/> Congrats to all Domers everywhere, the bowl jinx is over!!! Big Time!!!<br/> <br/> This was exactly the type of win ND needed too, a convincing win in every way.<br/> <br/> In case no one has mentioned it yet, I LOVE THE NAMES ON THE JERSEYS. <br/> <br/> MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GO IRISH!!!<br/> <br/> THE HELL WITH THE IRISH HATERS!<br/> <br/> <E></E> <E></E> <E></E> <E></E> <E></E></r>
Watched College Football Live tonight. Only 5 different individuals mentioned ND's bowl loss streak. What will they have to talk about tomorrow and next year? O line running blocking still sucks. Clausen got to throw downfield and had a great game. Tate was a star. Nice to see Allen take one badk on a KO. I hope that they're not coming back for a few days. Those kids deserve a few days having fun out there.
Thank You Santa for granting my Christmas wish!! This means a lot for the Irish and for Charlie. While the Hawaii Bowl is a lower tier bowl, it's still a bowl and it's still a win. Herby predicted an Hawaii win before the game, said the Irish couldn't keep up with the Warriors. So the go out and slaughter them, it's too bad Tate's punt return was eliminated by the roughing the punter. Clausen what can you say he was deadly. And welcome back Robert Hughes, I look forward to seeing some more of that next year. The team can now go into the offseason on a positive note and reflect on what might have been had they been able to play a complete game like they did tonight. Charlie and the staff can continue to recruit and be enthusiastic about the future showing kids how they might fit into a winner instead of explaining how inspite of the loss the program is trending up. Go Irish!!! To hell with the Wolfpack!! right Tim!!
Let's be realistic We beat an average to below average team on their home turf in a bowl game the way a GOOD team would. Tonight we played like a good team. Please Santa, bring me a coach who can install a consistant running game.....
Congrats to the Irish fans. I know it isn't the NC game but still an important win for the Notre Dame program, IMO.
It is amazing how good we looked on offense with Stewart and Floyd back in the lineup. We are thin, but getting deeper. I'm happy with this win. That is their worst home loss since the 2005 season when USC and Wisconsin beat them by similar scores to what the boys dropped on them tonight. Hawaii doesn't get beat down like that very often at home.
GD Clausen! He just waited for me to bet against the Irish to have the game of his life! :wink: Again, congrats to the Irish or at least I think I did so when it was 42 - 7. The domers are back.
Congrats fellas....a great win by any measure. I watched most of it and the thing I noticed the most was that your kids seemed to play with much, much more intensity than anytime I had seen them this year - at least what I recall during the latter half of the season. Clausen looked sharp....it's hard to put up those kinds of numbers even on the practice field. Good stuff....
What a great way to end the year. Charlie and his staff should be congratulated for getting the team ready to play. I know Hawaii isn't any great shakes this year, but I really like the way the Irish approached this game. Hopefully it will lead to better things next season. Well done ND. PJ in Jersey GO IRISH
With due respect to those who would characterize Hawaii as an average to below average opponent, that's how you would have to describe ND also, based on our record, our performance in the last several games, and the fact that we are among the lowest-level teams recordwise playing in a bowl game. My point is, don't denigrate the opponent in this case. Just enjoy the victory. It's been much too long since we've finished our season on a high note. We now have hope to keep us warm until spring.
There are lots of things to feel good about with this win. Mainly that we are off the snide with the bowl game, even if it was a 7-6 team that like us had struggled all year. As has been pointed out a lot of mainland teams have trouble with Hawaii when they go out there at the end of the year either for a 13th game or a bowl game. So it was impressive to clean their clocks. As gipper noted we didn't exactly "run' them over but still I saw some good things from Robt Hughes. I have wondered why he hasn't looked better and have suspected he never recovered completely from that knee injury in the SDSU game when he was hit on the goal line and fumbled. On replay I figured that was it, he was done, get out the arthoscope. But he continued to play. Hopefully he is fully healthy now, he showed some burst and some power last night. Make no mistake though that we still have problems with the running game, wheter it is our OL scheme or the play calling or our OL just don't block well I don't know. I do think our RB's are good enough for us to have a very effective running game to compliment our passing game. Maybe our new OCoord (rumoured to be Ron Prince) will have the answer. On the passing game, we are set. We have an excellent QB, a number of WR's not just Tate and Flyod. I hope Kamara works hard in the off season along with Robbie Parrish and we have 2 frosh in Goodman and Walker who a lot is expected from in the future. Both have outstanding speed, size and althleticism. Rudolph and Fauria are young outstanding TE's. To tell you the truth I'm not expecting much from Ragone in the future, he seems to be injuryprone. We have another young kid comming in next fall from Sids area in Tyler Eifert who also has a lot of upside. I was reasonably satisfied with the defense this and was glad to see them get reall pressure on the Hawaii QB and actually get some sacks as well. It was a little disconcerting to see them whip down the field a couple of times for scores. I really wanted that final score to be 49-14, and hated that we gave up the late score. But we have some young talent on the defense and this year was a new system with Corwin and Tenuta working together, so I'm hopefull for the future. Kyle McCarthy was one of my favorite players this year and I've heard his brother Dan is 100% now and he's bigger and faster than Kyle. So with Harrison Smith most likely moving to Safety with Kyle we'll be in great shape there and with Darrin Walls comming back to play CB with R.J. Blanton we're in pretty good shape there. Over all I'm very hopeful with the defense. It was a merry christmas eve that's for sure. Now we all have to pray for Charlie and his upcoming knee surgery and recovery. Go Irish!!
I thought when the year started we were a 9-3 team. Up to the NC loss we were playing like it. We beat Hawaii last night like we were a 9-3 team. At least for last night we can say "They were what we thought that they were." When Clausen is healthy, has time and has his top receivers, he's as the Hawaii coach said a Heisman type of QB. We have needs in a lot of areas but it doesn't seem that QB is one of them. And while we're at it, kudos to the special teams last night...blocked punt, KO return for TD. That's really special.
ND/Hawaii <r>I think there were a couple of key items that made a big difference in this game and would have made the difference in several games down the stretch for the Irish.<br/> <br/> 1. Turnovers. I don't think we had any in this game. How many times in previous games did turnovers spell disaster for ND?<br/> <br/> 2. O-Line play. This is the KEY issue in my mind and where everything starts for ND in being the difference between being a 6-6 rather than a 9-3 team. Given time, JC will flat out destroy most defenses. <br/> <br/> 3. The running game. Any semblance of a running game at all as in this game, makes a huge difference for this team. Get that going on a consistent basis and this is a 10 win team easy next season. <br/> <br/> I really can't tell you how good this game made me feel last night. It really is a HUGE win in many ways for ND. It keeps the disgruntled fans at least at bay from now until Sept and hopefully from scaring off potential recruits. It gets the media off ND's back for now at least and let's the staff do one of the things it does best, RECRUIT. It will solidify the verbal commits ND has right now and there are 2 I can think of right off the bat that will surely be difference makers as freshmen(Evans and Wood). I also think it will help CW find a good OC and O-line coach. <br/> <br/> The was a HUGE win in many ways and couldn't have come at a better time. Best Christmas present I've had in a long time. <E></E><br/> <br/> Mike Frank has a great article on Irish Eyes that sums up my feelings on the value this game exactly: <URL url="http://notredame.scout.com/">http://notredame.scout.com/</URL></r>
The best thing I heard in the post game press conference was that Charlie mentioned about keeping the pedal to the metal and not letting up too soon. ...he referenced a "game" where he had a 3 td lead and seemingly on cruise control and he let up too soon and the game was closer than it should have been in the end. Natch it's the Navy game, I'm very glad to hear Charlie say what he said, it's college football and not the NFL. Terry
Well, not that this is a suprise, but the Hawaii Bowl broke attendance records and had it's highest TV ratings ever. It's the reason that the Gator Bowl, the Sun Bowl and the Texas Bowl all were hoping the Irish would be in their bowls. No disrespect to the teams there, but most of the time the presence of the Irish usually is a boost to TV and/or attendance. Hawaii Bowl Records [/quote]
No question the Fighting Irish draw a lot of viewers with the fan base out there from here to eternity! Don