(AP) Coach Charlie Weis expects Notre Dame to look downright ugly against No. 13 USC on Saturday — and he's not talking about how they will play.

The Fighting Irish (1-6) will wear green jerseys that are replicas of what Notre Dame wore against USC 30 years ago when Weis was a senior and watched the game from the stands. The Irish that year warmed up in their normal blue jerseys with white pants but came out for the game wearing green shirts with yellow pants.

"These uniforms are ugly," Weis said.

The players like them, however.

"It's sort of like a Green Bay Packers type of look," tailback Travis Thomas said. "It's just something different. Change is good. So we're excited about them."

Tight end John Carlson said he's a huge fan of the uniforms, which he described as "crazy and wild." He also said he was disappointed last season because he was injured and couldn't play when the Irish wore different green jerseys last season against Army.

Unlike in past years, however, there is no surprise about the jerseys. Weis announced the decision over the summer, saying the team wasn't doing it as motivation but to honor the 1977 national championship team.

At the time the Irish came out in green in 1977, Weis was upset that his friend Terry Eurick, a team captain who was aware of the ploy, didn't tell him in advance. Weis said he had been wondering why at the pep rally the night before the game basketball coach Digger Phelps had referred to the football team as the "Green Machine."

"Digger was obviously in on it. That's a shocker that the whole free world didn't know," Weis joked.

The 11th-ranked Irish beat No. 5 USC 49-19 that day, then wore the jerseys the rest of the season en route to the national championship.

It wasn't the first time the Irish wore green, though. They wore green at times back in the 1920s when Knute Rockne was coach and opponents, such as Navy, also had blue uniforms. Frank Leahy teams in the 1940s also wore green and they wore green several times in the early 1960s.

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. The Irish also wore green against USC two years ago, when Matt Leinart led the top-ranked Trojans to a 34-31 victory with a touchdown in the closing seconds.

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GREEN GRASS: Two years ago when USC played at Notre Dame Stadium some USC players complained the grass was unusually long and speculated Notre Dame had let it grow to try to slow the speedier Trojans. USC tailback Desmond Reed tore his ACL during the game and said his cleat got stuck in the thick grass.

Weis said Tuesday that with the Irish playing five straight home games the school can't cut it the grass as short as a school in the South can because the Midwest has a shorter growing season.

"It's grass. It's mid-October. It's not as perfect as it would be earlier in the year. That's just the way it is," he said.

USC coach Pete Carroll said too much was made of the length of the grass, saying it was not a factor in the game two years ago.

"It was kind of fun and a joke and stuff like that, but it was really blown out of proportion," he said.

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BY THE NUMBERS: A loss to USC would be Notre Dame's fourth straight loss at home, tying a school record. The Irish lost the last three games of the 1933 season and the first game of the 1934 season, four straight in 1960 and two games in Tyrone Willingham's final season in 2004 and two more in Weis' first year in 2005, capped by a 34-31 loss to USC. The 1960 season is the only season the Irish have lost four home games, going 1-4. ... USC has won five straight against the Irish. The Trojans have never beaten Notre Dame six straight. The Irish won 11 straight 1983-93 and went 12-0-1 through the 1995 season. ... The 39:03 time of possession by Boston College last week was the most by an Irish opponent in 16 years.

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HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS: Notre Dame's best quarter so far this season is the third quarter, being outscored only 51-43. The worst quarter for the Irish has been the second, being outscored 64-7.

Weis said the reason is because with so many underclassmen playing for the Irish, it is hard to make adjustments while the game is going on.

"You tweak it in the first half. What you can't do is have an overhaul in the first half. Last year there's times I'd be nine plays into the game, I'd go off the script. We don't do that as often this year. We tweak it," he said.

Usually the Irish tweak it by reducing the number of plays they run.

"I'm able at halftime to throw out a bunch of stuff and cut it down to just a few things to simplify it to a few things that's give us the best chance of making a few plays," he said.

Weis said he can't do that too early because the opponent would adjust.

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SPORTS PSYCHOLOGIST: Weis consulted with a sports psychologist after hearing about something called "relief syndrome."

Weis said teams who have been on winning or losing streaks can suffer from the syndrome, and he was worried about the Irish after they beat UCLA to end a five-game losing streak.

"You would think there would be a big letdown when you've lost after you've been winning for a while, but I guess that works both ways," he said.