With about four minutes to play, the P.A. announcement rang through the evening air. Pass complete to Golden Tate. The postscript, meanwhile, drifted through Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum like an uncomfortable silence.
This was Tate's second touch. All game. The best answer Notre Dame had for a feral USC defense felt like he was running routes in a crowded bazaar, squeezed and smothered at every turn.
When Tate saw fellow receiver Michael Floyd on the bench against Navy, the freshman's leg swaddled in medical wrap, Tate shrugged. He thought he might see more of the ball. Only in the California gloaming did he understand.
I didn't really realize it until the 'SC game, how much we really needed him,
Tate said. It was almost like I could do nothing. Whatever I did, they were there. It was all out of my hands.
As most mediocre bowl teams do, Notre Dame classifies Wednesday's Hawaii Bowl as the beginning of something better in 2009. As Floyd returns to action, he ranks conspicuously high among players essential to fulfilling that promise, embodying all kinds of record-breaking possibilities.
Floyd set freshman school records for receptions (46), receiving yards (702) and receiving touchdowns (seven) in, basically, nine games. Then a pile of bodies collided with his knee on the third play of the Navy game—but that only underscored his value.
In the nine full games before Floyd's injury, Notre Dame averaged 259.4 yards passing. From Navy onward: just 147.3.
It was pretty frustrating,
Floyd said of his injury. Just knowing that some plays that might have been going to me—maybe it wasn't a catch or something, and I felt like I could probably go in there and catch the ball.
So many variables contribute to a receiver's effectiveness, it is impossible to attribute the team's offensive struggles solely to Floyd's absence. But it's inarguable Floyd and Tate emerged as the Irish's signature offensive threats, and implementing them effectively requires a bit of synergy: They must be on the field, together.
You can't double-cover everybody,
NBC color analyst Pat Haden said. That's why I thought, talking to [coach Charlie Weis that freshman tight end Kyle Rudolph] was really going to be a factor over the middle. I expected him to catch 50 balls, the way Charlie talked about him.
But if you put those three pieces together—if you have two good wideouts and a tight end who can get deep—that's hard to defend.
Yet Floyd is more than just a tool to scatter attention. At 6 feet 3 inches and 215 pounds, with preternatural body control and tissue-soft hands, he is a confounding matchup.
He makes plays on the ball instead of waiting for the ball to come down to him, or letting the defensive back make the play,
Irish cornerback Robert Blanton said.
Based on his ability and the Irish's returning receiving options, Floyd's ascension was inevitable. The production that followed, though, suggested a career fast track.
To be an elite team, Notre Dame needs elite performers. Floyd is already at the point where you want to book refundable fares for his Senior Day in 2011.
He was kind of fearless when he went in,
Irish linebacker Brian Smith said. We talked before camp, and he said he never really has seen athletes on the opposing side. But he went in there, and you never could tell he talked like that.
Actually, it's completely believable. Floyd, publicly, is as effusive as a cardboard box.
Asked if the injury revealed just how crucial he is to the offense, Floyd squirmed. He looked like he wanted to melt into his auditorium chair.
I don't say I'm really important to the team,
Floyd said. I just try to help in any way I can. I just try to do my job—that's catching the ball and running with it and scoring touchdowns as much as I can.
Yet Notre Dame dearly missed that and cannot afford to be without it in 2009, not if it wants even to feint toward a Bowl Championship Series berth.
Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen knows this, after staring into thickets of defenders that Floyd would have thinned out.
Clausen, in fact, had just discussed Floyd's playmaking abilities when the freshman wideout sneaked into a chair behind the sophomore quarterback and laughed. Hearing this, Clausen looked over his shoulder.
Oh, there he is,
Clausen said, only too happy to find Michael Floyd once again.
