Floyd turns in career effort in loss

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - There’s little doubt Notre Dame’s 23-21 loss to Navy on Saturday wasn’t the kind of game in which Michael Floyd thought he’d make his return from a five-game absence.

But after missing more than a month with a broken collarbone suffered against Michigan State, the sophomore receiver didn’t appear to bring much rust inside Notre Dame Stadium.

Floyd tied a career high with 10 receptions for 141 yards and a touchdown, becoming the fourth player in program history to have 10 or more catches in a single game multiple times.

“I think he played hard,” wide receiver Golden Tate said. “There were a few balls him and I both should have caught. That just means we need to catch more balls after practice and during practice. I think he did pretty well the first game back off a shoulder injury. A lot of guys are kind of scared and not sure if they should land on the shoulder. But I think he came in and made some plays and definitely helped us out a little bit.”

Notre Dame did not make Floyd available for comment after the game.

Head coach Charlie Weis and quarterback Jimmy Clausen involved Floyd in the passing game from the game’s opening drive.

Clausen hit Floyd for a 14-yard gain and a first down on the first drive, which ended after three plays on a Robby Parris fumble recovered by Navy’s Ram Vela.

Floyd made three more catches in the first half for a total of 57 yards. In the second half, Clausen leaned on his star receiver even more as Floyd made six receptions, including a 12-yard touchdown to make it 21-14 with 4:46 left in the fourth quarter.

“It’s good having a playmaker out there that was obviously one of your better threats.” Clausen said. “It’s good to have all the guys out there.”

Floyd was also involved in one of the game’s biggest momentum plays.

Early in the fourth quarter Notre Dame had driven to the Navy 12-yard line trailing 21-7. Clausen dropped back to pass and threw to Floyd. The ball hit Floyd square in the back while the wide receiver threw a block.

The ball popped up in the air, Vela intercepted it and returned it 20 yards. Weis explained the play as a matter of miscommunication between quarterback and receiver.

“He thought it was a screen,” Weis said. “We’re throwing it to him one-on-one. Jimmy is throwing it out there and (Floyd) was going to block because he thought it was a screen. He was just going to block the force out there. He missed that one but you can’t say enough about Michael’s effort for the first rattle out of the box after being gone for a month and a half. I thought his effort was very, very good.”