Notre Dame at Hawaii (12/24/2008)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP)—Notre Dame is putting a lot of meaning into what most people consider a meaningless Hawaii Bowl.

There will be no rankings at stake when the Fighting Irish (6-6) face Hawaii (7-6) on Dec. 24, no matchup of Heisman Trophy finalists and certainly no team feeling as if it had been bypassed for a BCS game.

The Irish, though, still believe they have plenty to play for, topped by trying to end their NCAA-record nine-game bowl losing streak. 

The Irish players have different motivations for wanting to end the streak.

“This truly is my last chance to leave a mark in the program, and also give those guys who are coming back something to build off of,” said linebacker Maurice Crum, a fifth-year senior.

Safety David Bruton, part of coach Charlie Weis’ first recruiting class, believes it’s a chance for him and his classmates to prove something after seeing the Irish go 9-15 the past two seasons.

“That would be a major accomplishment, especially since mine and David’s (Grimes) class, ‘the forgotten class’ or ‘the worst class in Notre Dame history.’ But it would be great to say we broke that streak along with the fifth year seniors and start a new streak in itself.”

The underclassmen feel they owe it to the seniors to send them out with a win, especially since the Irish suffered an embarrassing 24-23 loss to Syracuse in their final home game on senior day and another embarrassing 38-3 loss to USC in their regular-season finale.

“We want to send them out on the right note. They want to be known as the class that ended this bowl streak and got things going in the right direction,” freshman Kyle Rudolph said.