Reed May Be Out for Season

Desmond Reed, a reserve tailback and USC’s second-leading kickoff returner, suffered what appeared to be a season-ending injury during the top-ranked Trojans’ 34-31 victory over ninth-ranked Notre Dame on Saturday.

Backpedaling to receive a kick, Reed stumbled and fell untouched, immediately reaching for his knee. He is scheduled to have an MRI exam on Monday.

Reserve cornerback Alex Gomez suffered a broken right thumb.

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Plans for Notre Dame players storming onto the field against USC in green jerseys started with Coach Charlie Weis talking to his equipment manager over the summer.

“I told him to have a set made,” Weis said. “I thought maybe if we made it to a bowl game, it would be a nice way to fire the kids up.”

The Irish normally wear dark blue and have switched only a few times over the past three decades. Most notably, they came out in green against USC in 1977 and upset the fifth-ranked Trojans, 49-19.

Two other times, in 1983 and 1985, they wore green in victories over USC.

Though Weis had spent much of the week dismissing suggestions he might resort to the special uniforms, on Saturday he said: “This was like a bowl game. [The players] worked so hard preparing for this game. I thought that I’d give them something back.”

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USC won the game, but Notre Dame still leads the series with the Trojans, 42-30-5.