Notre Dame rolls in second half

Associated Press

SOUTH BEND, Ind.

Brian Kelly had what he called a nice little chat with his team at the half. A good bet is that the Notre Dame coach delivered his remarks at a very high decibel level. He was not happy.

Whatever was said, it worked. The Irish got their running game on track in the third quarter, their defense played, better, too, and they rode three TD catches from a less-than-healthy Michael Floyd to pull away to a 44-20 victory over Western Michigan.

“In the second half we played the way I expect our team to play for four quarters. I think our defense limited them to very few yards. We ran the ball in the second half effectively the way we should have,” Kelly said after his team’s third straight win.

Playing with a tender hamstring, Floyd took a pass from Dayne Crist and raced 80 yards for a score on the game’s first play from scrimmage. He also caught a 32-yarder on an option pass from John Goodman for a TD and later grabbed a 2-yarder from Crist in the third.

His trifecta came in the Irish’s first game since losing star tight end Kyle Rudolph for the season because of a severe hamstring injury that required surgery.

“I just felt relaxed, not myself,” Floyd said. “Up and ready, but just I didn’t want to go all the way just because of my hamstring. I wanted to protect it.”

He looked fine on that early play, catching the ball near midfield and making a nice spin to get away from Broncos’ defensive back Lewis Toler.

“He plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played,” Western Michigan coach Bill Cubit said of Floyd. “He plays with passion.”