Notre Dame and Hawai'i are polar football teams, as different as gold and lava.

Today's Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl opponents are opposites in tradition.

The Fighting Irish have won 11 national champions. The Warriors have won one outright Western Athletic Conference title.

There are 19 players who were All-America selections on the Irish roster, including 10 from the 2008 recruiting class. The Warriors have an All-Europe player (wideout Malcolm Lane, who attended an American high school in Germany) and an all-star from an eight-man football league (quarterback Brent Rausch).

The Irish's games are shown on NBC as part of a reported deal worth $9 million annually. The Warriors' games are shown live on a pay-per-view basis.

Sixty-one Notre Dame players have been selected in the first round of NFL drafts. Wideout Ashley Lelie is the Warriors' lone first-round pick.

Even Notre Dame's bench warmers are celebrated. Daniel Ruettiger is "Rudy" — the inspirational story that became a little-player-who-could movie and now a charity.

"The Fighting Irish are historic," said UH placekicker Dan Kelly, whose late grandfather, John Kelly, was a Notre Dame alumnus. "Movies are made about them."

UH right guard Clarence "Lafu" Tuioti-Mariner was raised in Southern California but always cheered for the Fighting Irish.

"I looked up to that team since I was little," Tuioti-Mariner said. "Now I've got a chance to go against them? It's going to be a fun game. Best wishes to them."

To be sure, these are not your father's Fighting Irish.

They lost four of their past five games, closing the regular season with a 6-6 record, the minimum needed to qualify for a postseason bowl.

The Irish have not won a postseason game since the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1994. Since then, 89 of the 119 Division I-A teams have won a bowl game.

During Monday's news conference, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said: "When I'm sitting here on Christmas Eve after the game with my wife and kid, waiting for Santa and the sleigh to pull up, I want to have a smile on my face. And I won't be the happiest camper if it goes the other way."

Despite the Irish's recent problems — they have lost 17 of 26 games dating to Nov. 25, 2006 — "they've got history," UH middle linebacker Solomon Elimimian said. "It's an honor to play them in the Hawai'i Bowl."

UH long-snapper Jake Ingram said: "They have good athletes. We've got a lot of respect for them. We know they're coming here to win. But we want to get this bowl win to give a present back to coach (Greg McMackin) for everything he's done for us. We want to give him that stamp on his first season as Hawai'i head coach."

Defensive tackle Keala Watson said "there's a lot riding on the game. We can beat Notre Dame or we can go out saying we're a mediocre team that lost a bowl game."

UH quarterback Greg Alexander said he grew up with friends who are strong Notre Dame fans. Alexander did not share their enthusiasm. Alexander, who played at Santa Rosa Junior College last season, moved to Hawai'i in May.

"At my going-away party," he said, laughing, "they played 'Rudy.' "