The 2008 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl game was a post-season

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

played on Christmas Eve 2008, at

Aloha Stadium Aloha Stadium is a closed multi-purpose stadium located in Halawa, Hawaii, a western suburb of Honolulu (though with a Honolulu address). It is the largest stadium in the state of Hawaii. , the stadium ceased fan-attended operations indefinitely ...

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

between the Hawaii Warriors of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

(WAC) against the

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

. The game was part of the 2008–2009 bowl game schedule and was the concluding game of the

2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 28, 2008 and ended on De ...

for both teams. This seventh edition of the

Hawaii Bowl The Hawaiʻi Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played in the Honolulu, Hawaii area since 2002. The game was originally held at Aloha Stadium in Halawa, Hawaii, a suburb of Honolulu, before moving to the Clarence T. C. Ching Athle ...

, sponsored by

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, was planned as a matchup between the WAC and

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

, however the Pac-10 was not able to supply a bowl-eligible team. Notre Dame's victory marked its first in the postseason since the Irish defeated

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

in the

1994 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1994 Mobil Cotton Bowl Classic was the fifty-eighth edition of the college football bowl game, played January 1, 1994, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. The game featured the Notre Dame Fighting Irish versus the Southwest Conference cha ...

following the 1993 season, and ended an NCAA record nine-game bowl game losing streak. Notre Dame

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Jimmy Clausen James Richard Clausen (born September 21, 1987) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) from 2010 to 2015. He played college football at Notre Dame and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in t ...

broke school bowl game records after passing for 401 yards and five touchdowns, and his 84.6% completion rate was the second-best completion percentage for any player in any bowl game in NCAA history. Wide receiver

Golden Tate Golden Herman Tate III (born August 2, 1988) is an American baseball player and former football wide receiver who is currently a center fielder for the Port Angeles Lefties of the West Coast League (WCL). He played college football at Notre D ...

also set Irish bowl records upon catching for 177 yards and three touchdowns. The game set the record for the Hawaii Bowl's largest attendance, in both tickets sold and

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count, breaking the previous record set at the 2006 edition.

Game summary

The Irish scored first on a Robert Hughes 2-yard touchdown run, capping a 9 play 87-yard drive. After the Irish defense forced a Hawaii 3-and-out, Irish safety

Sergio Brown Sergio Brown (born May 22, 1988) is a former American football Safety (American football position), safety. He was signed by the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2010. He has also been a member of the Indianapolis Colts, Atlan ...

blocked a Hawaii punt. Notre Dame could not capitalize on the block, in part due to an excessive celebration penalty incurred by Notre Dame after the play that pushed them out of field goal range. After forcing another Hawaii 3-and-out, Clausen connected with senior wide receiver David Grimes for a 14-yard touchdown. The Warriors answered right back, however, driving 56 yards in 6 plays and scoring on a 10-yard Aaron Bain touchdown from Hawaii quarterback Greg Alexander. With the score at 14–7, Notre Dame proceeded to score 28 unanswered points in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. In the 2nd quarter, Clausen connected with Golden Tate on 69-yard play action pass for a touchdown. After senior safety David Bruton intercepted Greg Alexander, Clausen again connected with Tate for an 18-yard touchdown in the corner of the endzone on a 3rd down and 18 play with :01 second left before the half. In the third quarter, Notre Dame continued to score, on Clausen touchdowns to running back

Armando Allen Armando Allen, Jr. (born April 30, 1989) is a former American football running back. He played professionally for two seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Bears. He was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted ...

on an 18-yard screen play and to Golden Tate on a 40-yard deep out pass. With the score at 42–7, Hawaii finally scored on another Alexander to Bain touchdown of 18 yards. On the ensuing kickoff, Armando Allen put any Hawaii rally to rest, scoring on a 96-yard touchdown return. Hawaii scored the final touchdown of the game with 2 minutes remaining against Notre Dame reserves.

Scoring summary

References

{{Hawaii Warriors bowl game navbox

Hawaii Bowl Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football bowl games Notre Dame Fighting Irish football bowl games

December 2008 sports events in the United States