OPINION

By Dave Curtis

updated 11:39 a.m. ET Dec. 17, 2008

Brandon Walker wanted to spend the first week of December prepping for finals and thinking of bowl games. But as he walked from study hall to meals, from workouts back to his dorm, Notre Dame's sophomore kicker kept bumping into two questions. Why is your team still so bad at football? And when is the new coach getting here to fix things?

"Most of the stuff came from people around campus," Walker said Friday. "They assumed we knew what was going on. When we told them we weren't exactly positive, they thought we were holding back. So it was kind of tough to hear kids on campus talk like that."

Dealing with the flak in South Bend, and the persistent calls and text messages from family and friends back home, seemed to wear on Walker and his Irish teammates. From SportsCenter to sociology class, they couldn't avoid the whispers about the sorry state of the program.

Between coach Charlie Weis' struggles and a shaky fourth quarter of the regular season -- an escape over Navy, a choke against Syracuse, a meltdown versus Southern Cal -- the mood around Notre Dame mirrored the vibes that persisted after last season's 3-9 record.

"There was a dejected feeling around the team," sophomore linebacker Brian Smith said. "A dismal feeling. We're trying to overcome that."

Step No. 1 in the overcoming happened almost two weeks ago, when athletic director Jack Swarbrick told the world Notre Dame would retain Weis despite a 9-17 record in the last 26 games he coached. Step No. 2 continues through Christmas Eve, as the Irish practice for a date with Hawaii in the Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl.

Notre Dame's younger players spoke Friday of using this tropical matchup as a springboard for 2009. The Irish's schedule appears to be softer next fall, and with at least 13 starters set to come back, the program has a chance to return to a regular place in the top 25. But the team's seniors, who have seen the program dip from back-to-back BCS games to almost irrelevant on the national scene, are looking back instead of forward.

By winning championships and racking up awards and heading toward pro football careers, most players aim to leave their programs better than they found them. Call it a byproduct of their individual and season-by-season team success. The Irish players who will leave the program after the Hawaii Bowl struggled to say for sure if they've met that aim. A win on Christmas Eve, though, would make them feel better about their contributions.

"It would help with a lot of sleepless nights," said senior defensive end Pat Kuntz. "If we win, there will be a lot less regrets. And it would ease a lot of pain."

The pain manifested itself as much in the last few weeks as it did last winter. Five losses in this season's final seven games sank the Irish to 6-6, which locked them out of bigger bowls like the Gator and the Sun. A plan came together for Notre Dame to face Ball State, if the Cardinals won the MAC and entered the bowls 13-0. But Ball State lost to Buffalo in the MAC title game, spoiling the all-Indiana showdown and opening the way for Notre Dame to visit Hawaii.

With its coach's job safe (for now) and its postseason trip set, Smith and Kuntz agreed the Irish will travel west more focused and together than at any time since the middle of the season. But the team still has the same holes -- the nation's 98th-ranked rushing offense, troubles stopping the run and an inconsistent passing attack. That formula doesn't guarantee a victory over the Warriors; this morning, the Irish woke up as 2-point underdogs.

A loss, of course, would sink the program even further. And it would bring back all those questions on campus when everybody returns in January.

"Mainly, it's just annoying to handle all that," senior safety Kyle McCarthy said. "The guys on the team and the coaches know none of that stuff really affects us. We just have to do better as players and win more games."

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