John Estes has seen this scenario before.

Estes' freshman season ended with Hawaii suffering a close loss to a BCS conference opponent to close the regular season before heading into the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

His junior year has followed a similar pattern, and he's hoping for a repeat of the result.

“;It reminds me of 2006,”; Estes said. “;We came off a tough loss (to Oregon State) and beat Arizona State and it kind of carried over into the next season.”;

This time around, it was Cincinnati playing the role of senior night spoiler and Notre Dame will be the Warriors' Hawaii Bowl opponent on Wednesday at Aloha Stadium.

Just as it was two years ago, Estes has been a solid presence in the interior of the Hawaii offensive line. But his position, both in the lineup and in terms of leadership, has changed since then.

Estes, the Warriors' starting right guard in 2006, was named to the All-Western Athletic Conference first-team for the second straight year at center while taking on team captain responsibilities as well.

Estes has started every game since that freshman season, entering the bowl game with a team-high 40 consecutive starts.

Unlike the previous two years, there's been significant movement around him this season.

The Warriors made it through 2006 and 2007 with one starting offensive line combination making it through the entire season. They've started five variations of the front five this fall, with injuries forcing the lineup shuffles.

While Estes, right guard Lafu Tuioti-Mariner and right tackle Keoni Steinhoff have started all 13 games this season, the left side has been in flux for much of the season due to early-season injuries to Laupepa Letuli and Keith AhSoon.

Both have since returned, with AhSoon reclaiming the starting job at left guard and Letuli rotating in at both guard and tackle, while Aaron Kia has started the last 10 games at tackle.

“;We've had to make some changes and adjustments—now that we're back to healthy we're back to where we started,”; offensive line coach Brian Smith said. “;It's part of the game and it's just something you have to deal with.”;

The previous two years were marked by the line's stability, led by veterans such as Samson and Hercules Satele.

“;We all have to know what each other's doing every play,”; Estes said.

The breaks in continuity have contributed to a season in which the Warriors have given up 49 sacks, the most in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, for an average of a sack every 10.1 pass attempts.

Though there are various factors that can play into a sack—including the learning curve for a new group of starting quarterbacks and receivers this season—the attention inevitably turns to the offensive line when the quarterback gets hit.

UH gave up 28 sacks in 2006 and 35 last season.

“;I'm sick of seeing us give up sacks,”; Estes said.

“;When we give up sacks it's usually not the guys just beating us, it's us beating ourselves. We just have to eliminate the mental mistakes and if a guy makes a play, he makes a play. You just go on to the next play. You can't dwell on the past because you can't do anything about it.”;

Estes will have new starting guards on either side next season with AhSoon and Tuioti-Mariner finishing their careers against Notre Dame.

“;Every time we get together, we always tell each other we have to finish this right and make a statement before we all leave,”; said AhSoon, who missed most of the season after suffering sprained ligaments in his knee against Oregon State on Sept. 13.

Estes said the prospect of leaving UH a year early briefly crossed his mind, but he's committed to returning for his senior season.

“;I thought about it, but I'm not ready yet,”; Estes said. “;There's a lot of good (centers in this year's draft class), so it's better for me to wait one more year and prepare for next year.”;

Ticket update

Hawaii Bowl executive director David Matlin said ticket sales for Wednesday's game are approaching 42,000, and he expects a bump as the game approaches.