It didn’t necessarily register on the Richter Scale immediately after Notre Dame escaped Baltimore with an uncomfortable 27-21 win over Navy. But the events of that day helped to set in motion the unbelievable collapse for the Irish in the last two games against Syracuse and USC.
Talk about sucking the heart and the production out of both sides of the football in the span of about 15 minutes.
Before the first quarter even ended against the Middies, the pulse of the Irish defense – linebacker Brian Smith – and the most potent weapon on offense – receiver Michael Floyd – were lost for the game, and ultimately, for the season with knee sprains.
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The loss of Floyd greatly limited the Notre Dame offense.
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We all know what direction the team went after that.
“It killed me, not playing. It hurt more than the injury itself,” Smith said. “I was trying to push to get out there for USC at least.”
Both Smith and Floyd were expected back at practice this week and both were hoped to be full go by the time the team arrives in Hawaii late Friday night to begin on-site practices on Saturday.
Bowl practices in South Bend have been closed to the media so there is no way to say how these two key players have looked and how many reps they are getting in preparation to return to the lineup. Both have been projected to be ready by Dec. 24 for the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.
“I’m feeling pretty good, kind of a day-to-day thing and I’m just getting better as the days go on, so that’s good,” said Floyd, admitting it was frustrating to have such a fine freshman season cut short. “The older guys I talked to all the time, they told me to keep my head up and still be into the game.”
You can’t necessarily hang the last two losses on the absence of two players, but there has to be some correlation. In addition to his 53 tackles, which are fourth on the team, the passion Smith plays the game with has made him the heartbeat of the defense, and a terrific leadership candidate for seasons to come.
As a glimpse into what makes Smith tick, instead of immediately choosing Hawaii with his bowl vote, he wanted a crack at then-undefeated Ball State because he was feeling a bit territorial.
“I kept hearing they were the best team in Indiana, so I wanted to play them,” Smith said. But when the Cardinals were beaten by Buffalo in the MAC championship game, “Hawaii was the place I wanted to go,” he said.
It was the worst injury for Smith since he broke a finger in the sixth grade and had to be kept out of game, “I was crying all over the place that they wouldn’t let me play,” Smith said.
For Floyd, his contributions are best measured in raw numbers, offensive production that was desperately missing during the loss to USC when Jimmy Clausen threw for a whopping 41 yards.
Floyd suffered the same injury in the same quarter of the same game Smith did. It happened on the third play of the game when he was performing a block on a running play.
“I got buckled up into the pile and the pile just came through to my leg and kind of twisted it,” said Floyd, who like Smith, said this was the worst injury he has suffered. “I was going to run back to the huddle, but my knee felt kind of weird, so I came out one play and they told me I’m not going back in.”
The injury took away half of Notre Dame’s two-headed deep-threat monster with Floyd and Golden Tate, essentially the cornerstone of the Irish offense this season.
Floyd is without question the best freshman receiver Notre Dame has ever fielded with 46 catches, 702 yards and seven touchdowns, all freshman records. He also had four 100-yard receiving games.
“As you can see, we need him,” Tate said. “He’s a deep threat. He’s got great hands. He’s strong and powerful.”
It will be nice to have them both back.
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