SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- When Notre Dame faces USC this fall there will be no surprise, the Irish will be wearing green.
Coach Charlie Weis made the announcement Friday, saying the team would wear green jerseys to honor the 1977 team. Weis was a senior at Notre Dame when the 11th-ranked Irish wore their normal blue jerseys for warmups, then donned green for the game and defeated No. 5 USC 49-19 en route to the national championship.
Weis has said that was the game he remembered best from his college days.
Since then, the green jerseys have been met with mixed results. The Irish wore green in victories over USC in 1983 and 1985 _ although in 1985 they wore blue in the first half then switched to green for the second half.
Lou Holtz had the Irish wear green twice: in a 39-28 win over Florida in the 1992 Sugar Bowl and a 41-24 loss to Colorado in the 1995 Fiesta Bowl. The Irish also wore green in a 35-28 loss to Georgia Tech in the 1999 Gator Bowl and in a 14-7 loss to Boston College in 2002 after the Irish started the season 8-0.
The Irish wore green against USC in 2005, when Matt Leinart led the top-ranked Trojans to a 34-31 victory with a touchdown in the closing seconds. The Irish also wore green in a 41-9 victory over Army this past November.
John Heisler, Notre Dame's senior associate athletic director, said this was the first time in recent memory where the Irish announced in advance they would wear green for a game.
The Irish have used different shades of green for their uniforms. Weis said the uniforms for the Oct. 20 game against USC will be designed to replicate those worn by the '77 team.
