ON HALLOWED GROUND FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1964, UCLA VISITS NOTRE DAME FOR A FOOTBALL GAME.

Byline: BRIAN DOHN Staff Writer

As Jim Colletto readied to sprint down field and cover a kickoff, he glanced above the north stands and saw Touchdown Jesus, the mural emblazoned on Notre Dame's library, overlooking the field.

``I saw Touchdown Jesus and all these gold helmets, and I was like, `What the hell am I doing here?''' Colletto said. ``It was neat. It was a kick.''

Colletto, shaking his knees for effect, said playing at Notre Dame Stadium gave him goose bumps.

When UCLA visited South Bend, Ind., in 1963 and 1964, no program defined college football more than Notre Dame, and players said it was an awe-inspiring moment to run onto the same grounds where Knute Rockne coached, and where Paul Hornung, George Gipp and the Four Horsemen played.

Saturday, for the first time in 42 years and third time in history, UCLA and the 10th-ranked Fighting Irish meet. It has been 18 years since Notre Dame's last national title, and 19 seasons since Tim Brown won the school's seventh, and last, Heisman Trophy, but it remains a benchmark program.

UCLA, unlike crosstown rival USC, does not play Notre Dame annually.

When the Irish return this week's trip and play at the Rose Bowl on Oct. 6, 2007, it will be their first trip West to play the Bruins.

``This is like the Holy Grail of college football, right?'' UCLA junior middle linebacker Christian Taylor said. ``I think it's going to be a real exciting thing.''

How eagerly anticipated is this trip among UCLA's fandom?

UCLA usually struggles to sell a few hundred tickets for away games. The 5,000-ticket allotment for this game sold out a long time ago, and the school is expecting as many as 115 of its former players to be in attendance.

``We've been talking about this since early in 2001, right around the time we went to the Alabama game,'' said Brandon Huffman, a contributor to a UCLA fan Web site Bruinreportonline.com, of which a few hundred subscribers posted they would make the trip.

``That was a great trip, but even then people were talking about this one. It would take death for me to miss this.''

Colletto, UCLA's offensive line coach and a fullback/linebacker when the Bruins and Irish met twice in the 1960s, said the aura of the Notre Dame program was an enormous attraction during his playing days.

``I don't know what kids today think, but growing up we knew who the Four Horsemen were,'' Colletto said. ``You heard the stories. You knew Knute Rockne. You knew all that stuff. I remember walking in the locker room, and it was old, but you know who played there. It was a big deal.''

UCLA lost both meetings handily to Notre Dame, but neither came without incident.

In 1963, a 27-12 Notre Dame win, UCLA's Kent Francisco was involved in an on-field incident in which he grabbed a cheerleader's megaphone and hit Notre Dame's Jim Carroll in the face. It was in retaliation for a late hit from Carroll.

UCLA finished that season 2-8, while the Irish were 2-7.

``As bad as we were, both times, they had kids driving around that hotel all night long blowing their horns,'' said Byron Nelson, a running back/safety as a sophomore in 1963. ``I thought they were the most abusive, racially motivated people. They were very abusive toward our black players. That's one thing I really remember.''

In 1964, under first-year coach Ara Parseghian, Notre Dame won 24-0 as UCLA quarterback Larry Zeno fumbled four times. But that wasn't the biggest indignation UCLA suffered that day.

Zeno and teammates Mike Haffner and Steve Sindell were forced to wear Notre Dame's road jerseys after theirs were stolen from the locker room the night before.

Notre Dame went on to finish 9-1, and UCLA went 4-6.

``All I can say is, I hope Notre Dame decides to mow the lawn this time,'' said John Richardson, a UCLA sophomore in 1964. ``Those guys like to have a few tricks up their sleeves. Keep the long grass to make the running backs a little slower.''

Said Nelson: ``I'm returning the punt and took off to run and tore out a big divot and fell right on my face. (The grass) was thick and it was wet, and I don't think it had rained.''

Colletto, who was an assistant coach at Notre Dame in 1997-98, said festivities leading up to the Saturday game began with a Thursday luncheon, and culminate with a Friday night pep rally that features prominent speakers such as Wayne Gretzky, Joe Montana and Tommy Lasorda.

In fact, last season's pep rally before the USC game drew 50,000 fans.

``Notre Dame is big-time tradition, tradition, tradition,'' Richardson said. ``You get into that stadium, it's pretty overwhelming.''

Colletto said playing at Notre Dame Stadium, which was expanded to seat nearly 81,000 in 1997, was a huge thrill.

``For us, kids in those days, that was the ultimate deal,'' Colletto said. ``That stadium was little. It was 56,000 people. When I walked in there I was shocked, because you saw the games on TV, and it's, `Man, Notre Dame Stadium. Wow.' And then it's this tiny little stadium. But it was fun. It was really a neat experience.''

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6 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 4) Top, from left, Knute Rockne, Goerge Gipp, Paul Hornung, the Four Horsemen -- all legends of Notre Dame football.

Associated Press

(5 -- color) Left, The Golden Dome on the campus of Notre Dame

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

(6 -- color) Jim Colletto