University of Notre Dame seniors hope to leave more than just their ear muffs and longjohns behind when they depart freezing, snow-covered South Bend, Ind., for the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

There are also some nettlesome pieces of history and unflattering distinctions best discarded, too.

The Irish have lost an NCAA-record nine consecutive bowl games heading into their Christmas Eve meeting with the University of Hawai'i at Aloha Stadium.

Ending the streak, "that would be a major accomplishment, especially since my and David (Grimes') class quote, unquote (is) the 'forgotten class' or the worst in Notre Dame history," said safety David Bruton. "But it would be great to say we broke that streak along with the fifth-year seniors breaking that streak and starting a new (winning) one."

The 2005 recruiting class that Bruton came in with, head coach Charlie Weis' initial recruiting batch, was the first in Irish history that did not have at least one high school recruit listed in a national top 100 of major recruiting services. They have gone 9-15 over the two most recent seasons including 6-6 this year.

Towering over it all is the enduring fact that not since the 1994 Cotton Bowl, when Notre Dame beat Texas A&M, 24-21, have the Irish won a bowl game.

"For me, personally, I'm 0-2 playing in a bowl, so I want to end my streak," Bruton said. "And the overall Notre Dame's record in a bowl, it does weigh a little bit, but in the grand scheme of things I just want to handle what's going on now and the fact that I'm 0-2 in (bowls)."

Mostly, however, Grimes said, "I think it's just going out on top. (It would) kind of take that bitter taste out of our mouth that we had this last month and get the seniors something to be happy about."

Said Grimes: "Coming off last year, (when) we didn't make it to a bowl, I think there were a lot of guys happy that we're actually going to a bowl."