his second year at USC following the departure of John McKay to the NFL. Notre Dame sat at 4–1, with an upset loss coming to unranked Ole Miss in the second game of the season. Patience was running thin with Irish fans who considered Devine's consecutive 8–3 and 9–3 seasons as lackluster compared to what they were accustomed to with coach Ara Parseghian. The loss to Ole Miss only served to fuel the fire. Devine needed a win against the 5–1 Trojans, whose only blemish was a 1-point loss to Alabama. Little did anyone know that Devine had something special in mind for the game. During Pregame warmups, the Irish players wore their traditional navy blue jerseys. Following their warmups, they went into the locker room and found co-captains Terry Eurick and Willie Fry clad in emerald green jerseys. A similar green jersey sat in each player's locker. The players quickly returned to the field, followed by a Trojan Horse, containing students dressed as Notre Dame players, but wearing blue jerseys, being dragged by students wearing togas. The sight of the team wearing green sent the crowd at Notre Dame Stadium into a frenzy that would carry on through the entire game. Quarterback Joe Montana led the Irish offense to a quick 7–0 lead, but the USC linebacker Mario Celloto tied the score on a five-yard fumble return. After several missed field goals, Montana led the offense on a quarterback sneak, and directed the Irish to 28 unanswered points, including two touchdown passes to All-American tight end Ken MacAfee. Ted Burgmeier proved to be an unsung hero. In the second quarter alone, the senior defensive back intercepted a Rob Hertel pass that would have been a sure Trojan touchdown, executed a fake field goal to perfection and turned a botched snap on a point after touchdown into a successful two-point conversion when he lofted a pass to halfback Tom Domin, who made a spectacular catch as he was falling down across the sideline, yet still managed to keep both feet in bounds. While the game was quite sloppy, with both teams combining for 10 turnovers, USC could not find the end zone until the 4th quarter. Notre Dame went on to win the game and wore the green jerseys all the way to a victory over Texas in the Cotton Bowl Classic and captured the National Championship. 1978 – USC