updated 3:02 a.m. ET Nov. 30, 2004

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame accepted an invitation Sunday to play in the Insight Bowl in Phoenix against a Pac-10 team on Dec. 28.

The Irish (6-5) accepted the bid a day after losing to Southern California for a third straight season, this time 41-10.

“It makes the winter a lot easier if you finish on a high note as opposed to finishing on a losing note with that losing taste in your mouth,” Coach Tyrone Willingham said. “Even though our season should provide great motivation for us during the winter because it was a season we didn’t reach our expectations, but you like to go in doing anything feeling good about what you’re doing.”

The Insight Bowl has a $750,000 payout.

The opponent is supposed to be the fourth- or fifth-place Pac-10 team. Whether No. 4 California (4-1) earns a Bowl Championship Series berth will affect who the Irish play, as will USC’s game against UCLA. The Irish could face Arizona State (8-3), UCLA (6-4) or Oregon State (6-5).

The Irish haven’t won a bowl game since ending the 1993 season ranked No. 2 after beating No. 7 Texas 24-21 in the Cotton Bowl.

Since then the Irish have lost six straight postseason games.

“It would be a great way for these seniors to leave something very positive in this program,” Willingham said. “I believe it gives us that feeling, that sensation, that we still have some business to take care of.”

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