Notre Dame’s nearly 100-year history of wearing green alternate jerseys

When Florida State visits Notre Dame in South Bend on Saturday night, the Fighting Irish will bust out green jerseys, something they’ve done periodically for decades. The color scheme ND chose was, uh, interesting:

It might be a little surprising to consider a game against a 4-5 Florida State to be a special game worthy of special gear, but the Irish are treating it as a Senior Night reward for a team that’s 9-0.

Plus, when you’re on course for a Playoff bid, any game is a big game. And FSU and Notre Dame have some deep championship history together.

Former Irish coach Knute Rockne was first with the idea for his players to put on the shamrock-colored threads, mostly for contrasting purposes, school historians say:

And while accounts vary among Notre Dame historians as to the first time green shirts were used in a game, many accounts suggest it was in 1921 when Rockne and his team traveled to Iowa City to play the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Iowa, which finished that season undefeated, handed Notre Dame its only loss of the year in a tough 10-7 tussle, but a tradition was born.

Rockne theorized that the green jerseys would help his passers better locate their receivers so a wardrobe change became routine when playing teams of similar color schemes. Navy provides the best example.

In 1927, during Notre Dame’s first-ever matchup against the mighty Navy Midshipmen, the green jerseys were used for both player distinction and also for the first time as a motivational tactic.

The Fighting Irish won that game against Navy, and the green jerseys worked against Navy the next year, 1928, too.

1947 Heisman winner Johnny Lujack wore a green jersey when he was on the cover of Life magazine. Leahy’s teams used the green jerseys more often than not during his tenure, and that continued through the Terry Brennan years, which ended in 1958.

The next two coaches, Joe Kuharich and Hugh Devore, only used them sparingly, per the school.

The school’s account of a 1977 game in South Bend:

The Notre Dame players performed pre-game warm-ups in their traditional blue jerseys before heading back to the locker room. Surprised and thrilled, the players found a different game jersey hanging in their lockers. To the enthusiastic delight of the Notre Dame fans and players, the Irish stormed from their tunnel wearing green for the first time in 144 games.

Now known as the “Trojan Horse” and the “Green Jersey” game, Notre Dame won 49-19 and made USC green with envy by parlaying the 30-point win that day into a national championship about 10 weeks later.

Dan Devine was the Irish’s coach at that point. He had Notre Dame wear green for 44 straight games at one point, up to his last game in 1980. Devine’s Irish were 32-9-1 in green.

The Irish were already up 27-0, but coach Gerry Faust had to keep his word:

Notre Dame Coach Gerry Faust was asked during the week whether his team would wear green jerseys against USC instead of the traditional blue garb.

Faust said that the Irish would not be adorned in green on the opening kickoff of Saturday’s game. He told the truth, but not all of it. It turned out that Notre Dame was clad in green, but not until the start of the second half.

It was an emotional gimmick the Irish didn’t seem to need. Notre Dame led at the time, 27-0, on its way to a crushing 37-3 victory before a capacity crowd of 59,075.

“The rule doesn’t specifically say you cannot do this,” Big 12 referee Mike Defee told SB Nation, years later, when asked whether a team these days could do this. “It says players shall wear colors of contrasting color.”

They’re usually reserved for bigger games.

“The 1992 Sugar Bowl against Florida sticks out quite a bit,” One Foot Down’s Joshua Vowles told me. “Jerome Bettis ran wild in the white version with green numbers. So dope. Rick Mirer and Bettis doing the Gator chomp is pretty much my favorite picture ever.”

They wore them again for the ‘95 Fiesta Bowl, losing to Colorado 41-24.

Bob Davie’s 1999 Gator Bowl team lost to Georgia Tech wearing them, and ND lost to Boston College in 2002 in them under Ty Willingham.

Thanks to outcomes of certain games while wearing them, some ND fans have unpleasant memories of the jerseys.

That BC game “was the classic example of when not to wear them,” OFD’s Vowles said of his most memorable green jersey game memories. “And ND lost. This is why Irish fans cringe at the thought of wearing the green.”

More recently, Charlie Weis’ teams went 1-2 in green, losing twice to USC and beating Army:

One of those USC losses was the “Bush Push” game, in which Reggie Bush literally pushed Matt Leinart into the end zone for the winning TD with seconds left:

The last time was in 2015, when the Irish beat Boston College at Fenway Park, 19-6. The unis from that game were newer looking, and they look a bit similar to the ones ND will wear against the Noles.

Per The Glaze Page’s ND uniform history, ND has worn green jerseys at one point or another in 45 different years, dating back to the 1920s.

“To me, the green jerseys are actually really cool and give the team a retro Joe Montana vibe,” lifelong ND fan Jessica Smetana of Sports Illustrated said.

But the jersey color is secondary to the results.

“I truly do not care, as long as they win.”