Mitch Picks the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii Vs. Notre Dame 12/24/08

While Boise just missed getting the outright win in the Poinsettia Bowl, they did do enough to cover and bring my bowl record to 5-1 against the spread.

I realize the next few days get hectic for a lot of you, and before I get started on the game, I just want to wish everyone a very happy holiday season. Personally, we aren't doing anything this year, and I'm pretty relieved to get a chance to relax for a change.

But because of the way some of these matchups are playing out, I'm not so sure how relaxing it's actually going to be.

I'm not alone in my bowl-picking run, as Jordan has now won his last two and has gotten back to 3-3 in the bowl season with a mere 28 games to play. We've had a great season thus far, and I don't see how we don't finish it at least as strong.

Not to jinx our future picks, but we have continued with a trend we had all season long, hitting at a very nice clip in games we've agreed on. While it's early, so far we have agreed on two games, and not so surprisingly, we covered in both.

It's hard to believe that there is such a thing as a college football game that I'm not overly excited about, but if there ever were such a thing, this game is it.

The Sheraton Hawaii Bowl   Aloha Stadium   Honolulu, HI

Hawaii (7-6) Vs. Notre Dame (6-6)

December 24, 2008  8 EST  Line: Notre Dame -2

The Overview:

For a game between two teams with 12 losses between them, there certainly are a lot of storylines. The biggest storyline will be on the Notre Dame side of the field, where the Fighting Irish haven't won a bowl game in nine years.

If that isn't enough, head coach Charlie Weis has been under fire, mainly because his team has underperformed on the field in a year when the expectations were much higher at Notre Dame because of a soft schedule.

Notre Dame had trouble on the road and trouble against teams with winning records, two things they'll face in this matchup. The Irish also finished the season very poorly, losing five of their last seven, including a home loss to lowly Syracuse and a blowout loss at USC in the final two games of the season.

Hawaii was in a BCS bowl game just a year ago, the Sugar Bowl. Gone are last year's star QB Colt Brennan and the man who most felt was responsible for building the Hawaii program, head coach June Jones. The team started slowly this year under new coach Greg McMackin, losing three of its first four games, but rebounded nicely to win six of its last nine.

Hawaii has played seven bowl teams already this season and have been at the very least respectable in the games they lost, though they did beat three bowl teams.

This game has a very big intangible:  It will virtually be a home game for Hawaii while it is a gigantic road trip for ND.

See Mitch's College Bowl pick against the spread