WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- Wake Forest's 22 seniors figured it was only a matter of time before they took their place as the winningest class in school history.
Turns out, it's taken much longer than they thought -- and now they're down to their last chance to get it done.
The Demon Deacons' seniors have been chasing that elusive 33rd career win for 1 1/2 months, and they enter their finale against Duke on a five-game losing streak.
That slide has erased all hope of making it to one last bowl game for the seniors, who were freshmen on the 2006 team that won an unlikely ACC championship and claimed a spot in the Orange Bowl. That was the first of three straight postseason appearances that revived the dormant program.
"Time and time again, you get asked about the disappointments of the season, and really it is, and it isn't," defensive lineman John Russell said. "It's one of those things, those bittersweet moments that you look back and think about all the times you had, all the good things that came out of it. It really overshadows some of the disappointments of this year. ... (Beating Duke) will kind of help soften the blow."
If nothing else, those seniors can say they've matched the mark set by last year's bunch, led by future pros Aaron Curry and Alphonso Smith. They won 32 games from 2005-08 -- and that number was matched by this year's group in mid-October.
