As a McLean, Va., native, and now a Falls Church, Va., resident for more than four decades, 1966‑68 Notre Dame quarterback/running back Coley O'Brien made it a priority to attend the Sept. 12 Notre Dame visit to Virginia.

"That was an important game because that was the first time Notre Dame ever played in the state of Virginia," he said. "That would have been awful to me losing that one."

Starting Notre Dame quarterback Malik Zaire suffered a season-ending broken ankle in the third quarter, and flashbacks to nearly 50 years ago were flowing through O'Brien's memory when untested sophomore DeShone Kizer was sent in as the replacement.

"I have a soft spot for backup quarterbacks who are thrown into important games," O'Brien said.

There is not a more significant situation like that in Notre Dame football annals than the one O'Brien faced on Nov. 19, 1966, in the "Game of the Century" showdown between No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Michigan State in East Lansing.

Seldom in college football history has a game had more prime NFL talent on the field. Michigan State had four of the top eight players selected in the following spring's draft, including the top two in defensive lineman Bubba Smith and linebacker George Webster. Notre Dame had three of the top 23, including defensive end Alan Page, and numerous other luminaries.

Yet when Smith separated Irish All-American quarterback and future second-round pick Terry Hanratty's shoulder early in the contest, suddenly it was the 5-11 diabetic O'Brien, whose eyesight also was a problem, thrust into the cauldron.

Trailing 10‑0, the gutsy O'Brien took a snap from reserve center Tim Monty (in for the injured George Goeddeke), tossed a perfectly placed 34-yard touchdown pass that went about 45 yards in the air to reserve running back Bob Gladieux (in for the injured Nick Eddy) and helped salvage a 10‑10 tie.

Smith lamented afterwards that O'Brien's mobility presented greater problems, and the national media believed if a reserve quarterback who will never be in the pros could still bring the Irish back in a hostile environment against the nation's second best team, then it merited the right to stay No. 1.

Yet the humble O'Brien said Kizer's performance in the 34‑27 win deserves more accolades.

"He won the game and showed great poise," O'Brien said.

O'Brien's own composure enabled the Irish to have a chance to wrap up the national title at No. 10 and Pac‑8 champion USC, which destroyed Notre Dame's 9‑0 season and No. 1 ranking two years earlier. In his first and lone career start at quarterback, O'Brien was named Sports Illustrated's Player of the Week on offense after completing 21 of 31 passes for 255 yards with three touchdowns in the 51‑0 demolition of the Trojans to seal the national title.

Once 1967 rolled around, O'Brien was the backup again to Hanratty, and as a senior in 1968 - when sophomore Joe Theismann was being groomed as Hanratty's replacement - O'Brien tried his hand on defense before settling in at running back.

He became a starting halfback with Gladieux, rushing for 314 yards while averaging 4.9 yards per carry and scoring three touchdowns. He averaged 17.0 yards on his 16 catches (with four more scores) and even threw a 13-yard touchdown strike to Theismann on a halfback pass in a 21‑21 tie at No. 2 USC to help the Irish finish No. 5 in the final Associated Press poll. That offense's 37.6 points per game output remains the single-season standard at Notre Dame.

The son of a Navy man, O'Brien grew up near Annapolis, Md., where Navy quarterback Roger Staubach led the Midshipmen to a No. 2 final ranking in 1963. O'Brien dreamed of succeeding Staubach.

"I was heading to the Naval Academy, but when I took the physical there my eyes were bad, which I didn't even know at the time," O'Brien said. "They said you can never be a pilot with your eyesight, and I wanted to be a fighter pilot because my dad was one. When they told me that, I had no interest in going into the Navy to be just on ships."

His relationship with Notre Dame began when he met Irish head coach Ara Parseghian at a 1965 dinner in Washington, D.C. O'Brien was honored by the Touchdown Club as its top player in the area, while Parseghian was feted as the College Coach of the Year. Vice president Hubert Humphrey was among the guests, and college players such as Staubach and Illinois linebacker Dick Butkus, along with Alabama head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, were also saluted.

When highlight tapes of O'Brien were shown during the dinner, Parseghian invited him to the campus for a visit. Not offered immediately because the Irish were evaluating so many other quarterbacks, O'Brien sensed he was slow-played before accepting the scholarship offer from Parseghian a few weeks later.

He wasn't aware that among the other quarterbacks recruited in that class were Hanratty and Bob Belden - who would be on the Dallas Cowboys roster in 1969 and 1970 for head coach Tom Landry.

"And the quarterback who came in with us that year with the most publicity was Mike Franger, from nearby Elkhart, Ind.," O'Brien said. " He was a Parade All-American, the No. 1 quarterback in the nation, which was the biggest thing in recruiting back then."

Franger eventually ended up playing basketball for the Irish, while O'Brien finished the fall of 1965 as the highest ranked quarterback by the Irish staff based on their practices with the prep team against the powerful Irish defense (freshmen would not be allowed to play in games until 1972). O'Brien had learned the system the fastest, but Hanratty's size and arm strength eventually won him the job the following September.

"It was a letdown, but I wasn't there just to play football," O'Brien said. "I was there to get an education, too, and I was in the right spot for that. But you never know what can happen.

"You've seen it, especially with this year's team; guys dropping right and left. I wasn't thinking about that, but I was making sure I kept battling and kept thinking it might happen where I have to play."

Thanksgiving weekend this year had some mixed allegiance in O'Brien's family. O'Brien was pulling for a Notre Dame victory and a possible berth into the four-team playoff, but it had to come at the expense of a Stanford team quarterbacked by his nephew, Kevin Hogan, replete with Notre Dame graduates and a father who passed away last year.

"I cheer for Notre Dame to win - and also cheer for Kevin to do well," said O'Brien, who had seen the series with Stanford go the Cardinal's way since Hogan redshirted as a freshman in 2011. "The whole Hogan family is Notre Dame people, and he was very interested in going there, but he ended up at the right place."

O'Brien believes it worked out for the best because Stanford runs a pro-style offense better tailored to his skill sets.

"Plus, he enrolled when Andrew Luck was a senior and was able to see how he prepared and performed in the system," O'Brien said. "It was the perfect football philosophy for him, whereas the spread quarterback for Brian Kelly just wasn't Kevin.

"It's like Mike Franger when he came in my class. If he had gone to a school in the Southwest Conference, which had the run-and-shoot at the time, he probably would have been an All-American. You have to pick the right school that fits your skills."

Although he received some free agent invitations to the NFL after his 1969 graduation, O'Brien opted for law school and became a Double Domer with his Notre Dame degree, also spending a year in London as part of that program.

During his law school days, he worked in the summers for senator Mike Mansfield and former sergeant-at-arms Nordy Hoffman, a former All-American under Knute Rockne for the 1930 national champions. By 1974 O'Brien became the congressional representative of the U.S. League of Savings Institutions.

After 17 years in that field, he moved over to a law firm for a couple of years, establishing his own government relations office for six years and worked for NASA until 2006.

Beginning in 2006 and through his retirement in February 2013, O'Brien worked closely with Rep. Peter King (Republican-New York), the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Dan Lungren, California's attorney general from 1991‑99. Lungren graduated from Notre Dame in 1968, the same year King received his law degree from the university.

Securing borders, dams, harbors and transportation were all under his office's umbrella, with a special emphasis on establishing a cyber security bill for Congress.

"We were at the forefront of all of these issues that are so important, and we were trying to harden our defenses and find out where our weaknesses were to help our security posture," O'Brien said. "They were the best years of my life professionally."

Now retired and enjoying life with his wife of 33 years, Barbara, and three adult children, he remains close to his alma mater while honing his golf game.

Whether it was on offense at Notre Dame or "defense" on Capitol Hill, O'Brien has had a way of providing good security.