Hawaii Bowl Wrap-Ups

Stephen Tsai's wrap-up of Hawaii's 49-21 loss to Notre Dame is titled "Season's beating"

Asked which hurt more — the Warriors' disheartening 49-21 loss to Notre Dame in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl or saying farewell to each senior — McMackin, his eyes moistened with emotion, said: "Both."

"I love these guys, and I wanted them to go out with a win," he added. "It would have been really neat. But give credit to Notre Dame. They played a great game."

Much like previous years, UH had a record-breaking season:

Against the constant pressure, Alexander had little time to wait for the deep routes to develop. He was sacked eight times, giving the Warriors the NCAA record for most sacks allowed in a season.

The previous record of 58 was set by Notre Dame last year.

D'oh.

Jason Kaneshiro's wrap-ups are titled "Scrooged" and "'Weis-man' have all the magic"

"It hurts even more, I feel, because this was our last game and we felt this was a bowl game we should have played better in," said senior linebacker Solomon Elimimian. "To know we can't take that back, we can't say, 'OK there's next year.' That's the part that hurts the most."

There's also wrap-ups from BlueandGold.com, South Bend Tribune, and CFN.

Michael Tsai writes about the great game by Aaron Bain, who was UH's Hawaii Bowl MVP.

It's not that Hawai'i senior receiver Aaron Bain isn't appreciative of the honor — he earned the losing-team recognition yesterday with eight receptions for 109 yards and a pair of touchdowns — but it's just not him.

"I'd trade it in a second just to have another win on our belt," Bain said. "I'd sacrifice anything I could just for that win. I appreciate that award, but I really wanted to win this game for the seniors and for the state of Hawai'i.

Billy Hull has more from Bain.

"To me, any loss for the University of Hawaii and Warrior football is tough," Bain said. "I don't care who we lose to or if it's a bowl game or not, it's a disappointment because I know this team could be a great team."

Stacy Kaneshiro and Nick Abramo write about Notre Dame receiver Golden Tate, who caught six passes for 177 yards and three TDs.

Dave Reardon has a "Further Review" of the game.

The only good thing here for Hawaii was that the tourism authority got its postcard. And too bad the schedule is full for the next few years -- UH would have no problem booking opponents that saw this.

Hawaii made Notre Dame look like ... well, Notre Dame. Not the passionless barely-Fighting Irish who didn't bother to show up for some games this year, losing to mighty foes like Syracuse. No, this was the old Notre Dame, the one of Heisman Trophy winners and national championships. The four- and five-star recruits finally displayed some synergy.

Give some credit to Notre Dame's smart game-planning of screens early to slow up UH's penchant for blitzing. It made the dangerous Clausen-to-Tate combination unstoppable.

Ferd Lewis compares this loss to the Sugar Bowl loss.

The thumping in the Superdome was at least administered by a top 10 team that could have — and probably should have — been playing for the national championship.

This one was at home, of all places, and inflicted by a 6-6 team that hadn't won a bowl game in an NCAA-record nine previous appearances dating to the 1993 season.

The Star-Bulletin has some news and notes on Jimmy Clausen's performance, Charlie Weis calling the game from the coaches' box, the Warriors' sack record, the Hawaii Bowl's attendance record, and Inoke Funaki's possible position change next season:

"Whatever (the coaches) want to me to do," Funaki said. "If they want me to fight it out (at quarterback) I'll do that. If they feel my athleticism can be utilized at another position, I'll do that. I'm open to suggestions come spring.

"I was joking with the other quarterbacks that that was my last hurrah," Funaki said of the touchdown pass to Washington, his seventh TD pass of the season.

Kalani Takase has some news and notes about the Fighting Irish.