CHARLIE WEIS MADE A STATEMENT WITH HAWAII BOWL WIN

Notre Dame still has a long way to go before it’s an elite college football program again. But Wednesday night’s 49-21 win over Hawaii serves as a statement from coach Charlie Weis that he’s the right person to get Notre Dame back to elite status.The game represented the first Notre Dame Bowl win since it defeated Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1994, and it also represented one of the few times in the last couple of years that Weis’s offense has looked the way he promised it would when he was hired."I think it will be a happy time for our players,” Weis said after the game. “It’s been a long time since we’ve won a bowl game. I am also very happy for Notre Dame because this was a big step forward for us and leads us into 2009 with a good taste in our mouths."Beating Hawaii doesn’t get Weis off the hot seat heading into 2009. But it does give Notre Dame fans some hope. After the last two years, that’s all they can ask for.