EL PASO, Texas — The Notre Dame Fighting Irish finished the 2010 season on a high note Friday afternoon with a 33-17 victory over the University of Miami in the Sun Bowl.

The Fighting Irish, who started the year 1-3 under new coach Brian Kelly, led 27-0 before the Hurricanes kicked a field goal just before halftime.

Notre Dame’s advantage reached 30-3 before Miami scored a pair of touchdowns to make the final score look a bit more respectable.

Here are some notes from the Sun Bowl:

• Improves Notre Dame to 8-5 for the first time in school history.

• Secures an eight-win season for the 52nd time in school history.

• Gives the Irish a four-game winning streak for the first time since 2006 when Notre Dame won eight straight contests.

• Gives Notre Dame a four-game winning streak to end the season for the first time since 1992 when the Irish closed with seven consecutive wins.

• Gives Notre Dame its second straight victory in a bowl game following an NCAA record nine-game bowl losing streak.

• Evens the Irish all-time record in bowl games to 15-15-0 (.500).

• Improves Notre Dame to 17-4-0 (.810) all-time in games played in the state of Texas.

• Improves Notre Dame to 6-2-0 (.750) all-time in bowl games played in the state of Texas.

• Improves the Irish to 16-7-1 (.688) in the all-time series with Miami.

• Improves Notre Dame to 2-3-0 (.400) all-time in bowl games played against the ACC.

• Improves an unranked Notre Dame to 3-3-0 (.500) all-time against the Hurricanes.

• Improves an unranked Notre Dame squad to 2-0-0 (1.000) all-time against Miami on a neutral field.

• Improves an unranked Notre Dame squad to 3-1-0 (.750) all-time against an unranked Miami team.

• Improves an unranked Notre Dame squad to 2-0-0 (.750) all-time against an unranked Hurricanes team on a neutral field.

• Improves the Irish to 11-2-1 (.821) all-time against an unranked Miami team.

• Improves Notre Dame to 78-31-2 (.712) all-time against the ACC.

• Improves the Irish to 7-4-0 (.636) all-time against the ACC on a neutral field.

• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time record to 34-19-2 (.636) against the ACC outside of South Bend.

• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time record to 845-295-42 (.733).

• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time record on a netrual field to 109-36-6 (.742).

• Improves Notre Dame’s all-time record to 388-179-29 (.675) outside of South Bend.

• Improves Kellyís record to 179-62-2 (.741) overall, 61-27-0 (.693) at the FBS level and 41-11-0 (.788) over the last four seasons.

• Improves Kelly’s record to 3-1-0 (.750) against the ACC.

• Makes Kelly the first Irish head coach to win a bowl game in his inaugural season.

• Improve Kelly’s bowl record to 3-1-0 (.750).

Sun Bowl Award winners

John Folmer Most Valuable Special Teams Player – David Ruffer

Jimmy Rogers, Jr. Most Valuable Lineman – Zack Martin

C.M. Hendricks Most Valuable Player – Michael Floyd

Irish hot down the stretch

• Notre Dame has not posted a three-game winning streak to end the regular season since 2005. The Irish captured their last five games of í05. Notre Dame has only closed 20 seasons with a winning streak of at least three games since 1930.

• The Irish last posted an undefeated November in 2005. Notre Dame has only posted four undefeated Novembers over the last 15 years.

• The Irish owned a 3-10 mark in November over the previous three seasons entering 2010.

• Notre Dame entered its meeting with Miami riding a three-game winning streak. The Irish registered their fourth consecutive victory, which was the longest winning streak since 2006 when Notre Dame captured eight straight games.

• The Irish closed a season with four or more straight wins for the first time since 1992. Notre Dame closed the ë92 season with seven consecutive victories.

Notre Dame bowl history

Friday’s appearance in the Hyundai Sun Bowl was the 30th bowl appearance by the Irish (first ever in the Sun Bowl), whose first bowl outing was in the 1925 Rose Bowl.

• Notre Dame made its first bowl appearance in 1924 when Knute Rockne took his famed Four Horsemen backfield across the country to meet Stanford in the Rose Bowl.

• Due to University regulations, the Irish did not appear in a bowl game again until the 1970 Cotton Bowl.

• Over the years, Notre Dame has fashioned an overall record of 15-15 in post-season play and has participated in 12 different bowl games.