SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The slogan nearly was "Wake up the echoes."

But Courtney Schuster wanted something unique for the front of the University of Notre Dame's annual student fundraiser known as The Shirt. She yearned for a catchy phrase to symbolize a storied football team trying to reclaim past greatness under a new coach.

"Wake up the echoes," a line from the famous Irish fight song, was just too traditional.

Then in a brainstorming session, Schuster heard the magic line "Return to glory."

"That is what all the fans wanted," said Schuster, 20, a junior who leads The Shirt project. "And that is what we needed."

The Shirt is an unexpected hit in a season unlike any in recent years under the Golden Dome. Sales of the kelly-green garments have hit 64,000, and 20,000 more are expected to be snapped up as legions of students, fans and alumni fall hard for a football team, a coach and a slogan that summon up the echoes of old, the days of Knute Rockne, the Gipper and the Four Horsemen.

Capitalizing on a little offense, a little luck and a whole lot of defense, the Irish are 6-0, the latest a 14-6 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday. Led by an unflappable coach, Tyrone Willingham, the Irish have re-ignited campus spirit and set off a feel-good factor that reverberates in the bars, restaurants and hotels in and around town.

It all stands in stark contrast to last year's 5-6 season under mild-mannered Bob Davie, and inconsistent performances in the years before that.

"Nobody expected a season like this, which makes it all the better," said Colin Harding, a 21-year-old junior from South Bend.

The new mood in town and on campus can be felt and seen in a variety of ways.

It's on display at a dormitory, where students hung a building-sized green banner proclaiming, "Here come the Irish."

It's at the on-campus Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore, where the staff still buzzes about last weekend's rush. Fans poured in and snapped up shirts, sweatshirts, towels and caps, just about anything with the words "Notre Dame."

"Overall it was an energizing experience," said Jim O'Connor, director of retail operations at the 70,000-square-foot bookstore. "That is a multifaceted, carefully chosen word."

Friday night pep rallies are standing-room only, and tailgate parties begin earlier and earlier each week.

Last year's losing season is gone and nearly forgotten.

In her own way, Schuster was trying to erase that memory with her shirt and slogan. A third-generation Notre Dame student, Schuster learned about Notre Dame lore from her grandfather, who played for the Irish in the 1940s, and her father, who played baseball and graduated in 1974.

"I was adamant that this Shirt would be a Shirt unlike any other," said Schuster, a Denville, N.J., native majoring in marketing and anthropology.

So it is.

The Shirt Project, as it's known, has been around for 13 years, raising nearly $2 million for student-run projects, clubs and organizations. The annual target is to sell 44,000 shirts and raise $200,000.

This year the $15 shirts have been bought so fast that there have been three printings.

Why is The Shirt so popular?

There's the color, which Schuster calls "Sprite-can green," helping transform Notre Dame's stadium into a sea of green on game days.

There are the images of past greatness, as designed by sophomore Carl Elkins of St. Petersburg, Fla.: the Four Horsemen riding to victory in the 1920s, a scuffed golden helmet, a portrait of Rockne and words from the legendary coach's speech, "We're gonna go, go, go! And we aren't going to stop until we go over that goal line!"

And there's "Return to glory."

"I didn't coin the phrase," Schuster said. "I put it on The Shirt. That is what the year will be about. That was going to be the theme."

The theme has been picked up on campus and in the city, uniting town and gown around football triumphs that hearken to simpler times. Notre Dame is the biggest employer in town _and the biggest story.

"People are looking for things we can celebrate and looking for nostalgic experiences," Mayor Stephen J. Luecke said. "A good Saturday football game can fill that bill."

The school and the community are enthralled not only with the team but also its coach.

In only half a season, Willingham has emerged as a beloved figure. Professors laud him, especially after he met with more than 70 of them following a September practice, taking their questions for more than an hour. He also has answered questions from students, visiting every campus dorm.

During the meeting with faculty, Paul Rathburn, an emeritus professor of English, asked Willingham if he had asked for a raise yet. The coach said he hadn't, then jokingly asked if Rathburn wanted to represent him in negotiations.

Rathburn said Willingham told him that when he took the job, his son asked him, "Do they play big-time football at Notre Dame?"

According to Rathburn, the coach told his son they do.

At least they do under Willingham, Notre Dame's 25th head football coach.

"It's like night and day around here," Rathburn said. "What it reminds me of is the advent of Ara Parseghian," who went 9-1 and nearly won a national title in 1964, his first year in South Bend.

Whether winning national titles or waiting for next year, one thing is certain about Notre Dame football: The games sell out.

Each game pumps about $6 million into the local economy. But winning provides an extra lift downtown_a few more hotel rooms sold, extra dinners eaten, added beers drunk, even additional private planes swooping into the South Bend Regional Airport.

"Business is doing very well," said John Schalliol, the airport's executive director. "One way to gauge it is if the blimps used for television are able to base in South Bend, (that means) there are hotel rooms available."

The last few games, the blimps have landed out of town.

Roberto Parisi, who runs his family's namesake restaurant within sight of Notre Dame Stadium, said he served 300 extra meals to fans last weekend who poured in before and after the game against Stanford.

"We have our football weekends back," said Parisi, whose restaurant boasts a wall of Notre Dame football coaches' pictures.

Willingham has pride of place in the top left corner.

Mark McDonnell, who owns the upscale LaSalle Grill, said business was so brisk last week that he served 100 extra meals in a section of the restaurant normally reserved for cocktails.

"The last few years (when the team was losing) people would get angry and wouldn't even show up for their reservations," he said. "And if they did show up, they'd be angry."

But this year there are a lot of smiles among the fans come postgame happy hour.

"They are in a more celebratory mood," he said.

And happy fans don't mind spending. "Our check average is much better," McDonnell said.

The Irish are back, and business is booming.