Marcus Freeman is not afraid to pull out the green jerseys as the head coach of the Fighting Irish. For the third year in a row, Notre Dame will wear green for at least one home game after rarely wearing them outside of Shamrock Series games under Brian Kelly. On Thursday, Notre Dame and Freeman announced that the Louisville game on September 28 will be this year’s “Green Out.”
The last time Notre Dame wore green won’t bring back many happy memories for Irish fans. Notre Dame wore them for last year’s ill-fated Ohio State game, ending with a walk-off Buckeye touchdown with only ten men on the field for the Fighting Irish. That night, the Irish wore green jerseys with green pants for a full green-out effect. We don’t know if the Irish will wear green on green again this year.
The green on green looked okay on their own, but the entire team in green on green on a green field didn’t really make the uniform pop. What would make the green jerseys pop would be if Notre Dame wore the same white pants they wore for their “white out” look against Clemson on the road last year. Those same white pants are in NCAA Football 2025, which the University approves, so those pants should be available to wear.
With another “green out” this year, Notre Dame will wear at least four uniform combinations in 2024.
- Traditional home – the new Navy jerseys with traditional gold pants
- Traditional away – new white jerseys, which we haven’t seen yet, with gold pants
- Shamrock Series – Notre Dame will wear these in Yankee Stadium to take on Army
- Green Out – green jerseys worn vs. Louisville
Notre Dame wore five combinations in 2023 with a similar lineup as above with the all-white look at Clemson. The University is doing a great job of keeping up with the Joneses of sorts in terms of uniform combinations without straying too far away from Notre Dame’s traditional looks.
Green jerseys, or any alternate jersey, are always a hot topic among fans since some traditionalist fans only want to see the Irish wear either the blue and gold or white and gold looks week in and week out. Younger fans, and most importantly, recruits, love the alternative looks, but they especially love the green jerseys, so expect the yearly green out to stay.
Personally, I love the green jerseys—always have, always will. As an adult, the only two Notre Dame jerseys I own are a throwback #6 Jerome Bettis and a generic #1 green jersey I bought last year before the Ohio State game. It was a simple yet awesome look that will hopefully be a consistent option in Notre Dame’s arsenal for years to come. Please don’t change it too much so that the only one I spent over $100 on last year stays in style.
The choice of the Louisville game is interesting since there is a revenge factor for Notre Dame in this one. By far their worst game of the year, and one of the worst games of the Freeman era, was on the road in Louisville last year when the Cardinals dominated Notre Dame from start to finish. The Irish will look to avoid that this year at home. Last year, Notre Dame was coming off a grueling road win at Duke before the trip to Louisville. This year, the Irish host Miami of Ohio before hosting the Cardinals and then have a bye week after for a much more advantageous situation.
