That time Notre Dame played past 2 A.M. ET — and almost got beaten by a Hawaii team with a losing record, before heading to the Sugar Bowl
So how difficult can it be, for Notre Dame to play in a far-flung western time zone, when forced to play past 2 a.m. Eastern Time?
Lou Holtz had Notre Dame going to major bowls on an annual basis, competing regularly for national championships and winning one consensus national title.
Then they had a night game in Honolulu, in a time zone five hours behind their home time zone.
According to the partially handwritten stat sheet from the University of Hawaii, kickoff was at 5:47 p.m. Hawaii time. That would have meant 10:47 p.m. Eastern Time, or “Notre Dame Time.” [click here for a more legible partial stat sheet, albeit missing the game time data]
Total elapsed time for the game was 3:21, with the end of the game coming at 9:08 p.m. local time, or — 2:08 a.m. Eastern Time.
Heading into the game, the Hawaii Rainbows were 3-7-1.
Prior to midnight Eastern Time, the Irish were up 14-0 after the first quarter.
Yet as midnight ET approached, and then went by, things started changing.
In the second quarter, Notre Dame only outscored Hawaii 14-10. That still put them up 28-10 at the half, but Hawaii was stepping things up.
Presumably after midnight, the third quarter had the same result as the second quarter, with Notre Dame outscoring Hawaii only 14-10.
Nevertheless, that still meant that the Irish were up 42-20 heading into the fourth quarter.
Now, without digging deeper or finding old video, one might “guesstimate” that the fourth quarter might have started around 1:20 a.m. “Notre Dame time,” running to just after 2 a.m.
In that fourth quarter, the then-3-7-1 Rainbows outscored Sugar-Bowl-bound Notre Dame 22-6.
First, Hawaii drove half the field and scored a touchdown, as well as a 2-point conversion, to make it 42-28.
After Hawaii attempted an onside kick, but the Irish recovered, the Irish responded with a touchdown drive of their own, to make it 48-28.
But the Rainbows blocked Notre Dame’s PAT attempt.
Hawaii further responded by driving 69 yards for yet another Rainbows touchdown, making it 48-35.
The Rainbows then attempted their second onside kick of the quarter, and, this time, Hawaii recovered it.
They then drove half the field for their third touchdown of the fourth quarter, pulling within six points at 48-42.
The blocked PAT meant that, had Hawaii been able to continue their momentum, another Rainbows touchdown would have mean a Hawaii victory, not just a tie.
Yet, even though the Rainbows scored back-to-back touchdowns in the final five minutes, the Irish were finally able to wind the game down and escape with their narrow six-point win.
Extraordinarily, Hawaii outrushed Notre Dame’s power-running attack 345 yards to 290.
The Irish did outgain them 499 to 473 over all. Nevertheless, Notre Dame gave up 42 points and 473 yards to a Hawaii team that finished 3-8-1.
After a series of defensive lapses leading up to the late-night near-catastrophe in Honolulu, Lou Holtz would famously take over the Irish defense himself for the Sugar Bowl against SEC champions Florida (in addition to his usual role of running the Notre Dame offense).
(Steve Welsh – SCW 11.29.25)
[featured image is file photo]