Game Week: Hawaii Bowl - Sunday News

The Fighting Irish arrived yesterday.

Notre Dame reached its oceanside Waikiki hotel at 2 a.m., just as South Bend was waking up, and had to report to breakfast five hours later. No one seemed to mind.

"Back in South Bend it was snowing. Out here it's 80 degrees," quarterback Jimmy Clausen said with a wide grin.

Jake Veyhl of Athlon Sports has a game preview.

Save for an embarrassing loss to Utah State, this season has been a success for Hawaii, which was unsure about its direction following the departure of Colt Brennan to the NFL and June Jones to SMU. Greg McMackin has done a fine job coaching this team to seven victories and Greg Alexander has shined at quarterback since taking over full time against Nevada eight games into the season.

HawaiiAthletics.com has some excerpts from Friday's Hawaii Bowl press conference.

Lou Somogyi of BlueandGold.com previews the game.

Brian McInnis has a report from Notre Dame's first practice in Hawaii.

Notre Dame went through some basic offensive sets in the first of two closed practices this weekend. It was a must considering the Christmas Eve bowl game is now just three days away.

Some guy named Manti Teʻo showed up to the practice.

Jason Kaneshiro profiles senior linebacker Adam Leonard.

Leonard will finish his Hawaii career against the Fighting Irish on Wednesday in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. After the clock hits zeroes, there will be much to reflect on.

If not for a knee injury that ended a standout career at Rainier Beach High in Seattle prematurely and chased away some of the programs that had been pursuing him, Leonard might not have ended up in the islands in 2005.

Then there wouldn't have been those back-to-back seasons of triple-figure tackles as a Warrior, the Sugar Bowl experience, a WAC title and the lasting relationships with his teammates to savor.

"I'm so thankful for that," Leonard said of the fork in his path that led him to Hawaii. "God is good and he blessed me with this opportunity."

Stephen Tsai profiles Fighting Irish lineman Eric Olsen, writes about Notre Dame's flight to Hawaii and talks to UH players about the Hawaii Bowl gifts they received.

But yesterday, the Warriors received Oakley sunglasses, a visor, a custom backpack and ... a silk tie.

Still to come are an Aloha shirt and iKick 500 dock for an iPod or iPhone (retail value: $349.99).

While the swag bag drew a so-so rating from ESPN — "Aloha Means Goodbye" was the headline of an Internet story that tsk-tsk'd Notre Dame with "lose four out of your last five games and all this can be yours!" — the Warriors expressed polite gratitude.

"I have no complaints," offensive lineman Austin Hansen said. "The backpack looks like it's made with extreme high quality and fine workmanship."

Haha.

Ferd Lewis writes that this could be Charlie Weis' "aloha" bowl.

And Dave Reardon writes about the dangers of off-the-field distractions leading up to bowl games.

You can't win a bowl game on the Vegas Strip or South Beach, but you can certainly lose one if too many players spend their evenings and early mornings working on the neon tan.

As the Hawaii Warriors know, the same is true on Kalakaua Avenue and Bourbon Street.

The UH upperclassmen have experienced both sides of this phenomenon. They beat Arizona State in the 2006 Hawaii Bowl with a decisive late rally. (Tired Sun Devils?). And they were blown out by Georgia at the Sugar Bowl when some key players forgot to bring their game with them from the French Quarter.