He was part of a backfield that included running back Charles White and Lynn Cain, which helped the team capture a share of the national championship with the University of Alabama in the 1978 season.

Injuries to the Trojans' top two centers led to several fumbled snaps that opened the door for Sun Devil and future NFL quarterback Mark Malone to win 20–7.

He was a senior in 1979, and he played in a backfield that included future Heisman Trophy winners White and Marcus Allen.

In 1984, Sipe signed with the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League and the Browns gave the starting job to McDonald, who decided to stay in the NFL, despite also receiving offers to move.

[1] In 1985, the team traded for veteran Gary Danielson and selected Bernie Kosar in the first round of the NFL supplemental draft, which dropped McDonald to third-string quarterback.

[5] On November 4, 1986, he was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent to be the third-string quarterback, after starter Danny White was lost for the season with a broken right wrist he suffered during the 14–17 loss against the New York Giants.

[1] McDonald did radio color commentary for USC Trojans football games and lives in Newport Beach, California.

[10] The book was used to launch GameChange, a sports media and personal empowerment education company that McDonald co-founded with Jack Baric, an Emmy Award winning filmmaker.

[11] McDonald and Baric first met when they collaborated on A City Divided, a documentary film about the USC vs. UCLA football rivalry, which was used as a catalyst of "Rivals United for a Kure," a campaign to raise funds for cancer research.

[12] His son Mike, was the third-string quarterback for the USC Trojans behind John David Booty and Mark Sanchez, during the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

[14] His youngest son, Matt, started at quarterback for three years at Bowling Green (2020–2022) after seeing limited playing time for Boston College in 2017-2018 [15]