It was a very, very long two years, but the Charlie Weis Era at Notre Dame finally arrived at the Hawaii Bowl when the Fighting Irish flew by a slower Hawaii team, 49-21, mercifully ending Notre Dame's negative, burdensome 9-game bowl losing streak. The Irish had not won since its 24-21 victory over Texas A&M in the 1994 Cotton Bowl, 15 years ago following the 1993 season.



When Notre Dame's regular season just ended at a very average 6-6 mark following a 3-9 season a year ago, it was questionable whether the apologists outnumbered the rabid Irish fans who were calling for Charlie Weis' head on a platter. It was not like Weis had taken over a successful program and ran it into the ground.

He had inherited a team that Tyrone Willingham had taken to an 11-12 record over two seasons and, given the recruiting talent he inherited from Willingham, took Notre Dame to a 9-3 record his first year before losing in a BCS Fiesta Bowl game.

Weis' second season was 10-3 but then his Irish suffered a second straight loss in a BCS Sugar Bowl game. There were rumblings already among the Notre Dame faithful, who are very faithful to the Fighting Irish tradition but impatient and disloyal to its losing coaches. That is because the Notre Dame tradition is unmatchable in college football history.

Notre Dame has 11 consensus national championships and has been selected for 10 other shared national championships. Notre Dame has 102 winning seasons in 120 years of play, has had 12 undefeated seasons and another 10 with at most only 1 loss or tie. Notre Dame has the 2nd highest winning percentage (.736) among all Division I-A schools, second only to Michigan (.738).

Notre Dame has the storybook coaches, including Knute Rockne (105-12-5), Frank Leahy (87-11-9), Ara Parseghian (95-17-4) and Lou Holtz (100-30-2). And the players. The Fighting Irish have 7 Heisman Trophy winners and have produced more All Americans than any other school.

When you go 9-15 over 2 seasons at Notre Dame, you are in trouble and Charlie Weis was until the Hawaii Bowl. The Irish faithful kept asking "where is all of the talent he was supposedly recruiting?" A lot of that freshman and sophomore talent finally showed up big time in the Hawaii Bowl. Sure, you can argue that Hawaii is not exactly the powerhouse of college football, but for those who watched the game, this much is very clear:

The speed of sophomore wide receiver Golden Tate was evident with 6 catches for 177 yards, including 3 catch and run touchdowns of 18, 40 and 69 yards running away from the covering defensive back. Tate led the team with 52 receptions for 903 yards and 7 TDs during the regular season.

The speed of freshman running back Amando Allen was evident with 2 catches for 59 yards, including an 18-yard touchdown, and an electrifying 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound size and hands of freshman wide receiver Michael Floyd, who set the Notre Dame freshman record in the regular season with 46 receptions for 702 yards and 7 TDs.

The 6-foot-6, 252-pound size of freshman tight end Kyle Rudolph, who caught 4 passes for 78 yards.

The play of 6-foot-5, 304-pound freshman right guard Trevor Robinson, who helped the offensive line decrease the sacks allowed in the regular season from 58 to 20, the lowest total in 8 years.

The accuracy of sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen was nothing short of incredible. Clausen was 22-of-26 for 401 yards and 5 touchdowns. Hawaiian Warrior coach Greg McMacklin said, including his years in the NFL, Clausen was "as accurate as I've ever seen."

Notre Dame clearly has some impressive position players that have come of age despite their youthfulness. Now Charlie Weis needs to find some more linemen to protect them and help them succeed. The Irish defense had 8 sacks and 2 forced turnovers in their Hawaii Bowl victory.

Notre Dame is developing a "we are one" mentality. As the Hawaii Bowl's pineapple-football trophy was presented at midfield after the victory, each Irish player came around to put his hands on the prize; they were that interested in what the statute meant to Notre Dame, the Irish football tradition and themselves.

Did anyone notice that Charlie Weis called a heck of a game from the booth upstairs? Trust me when I say that the Hawaiian Warriors noticed.

Notre Dame fans need not wonder any more, the Charlie Weis Era at Notre Dame has officially started with his players, his system, and his first bowl victory as coach of the Fighting Irish.