Notre Dame finally put offense and defense together and hammered Navy 56-14 in their South Bend encounter yesterday.

Micheal Floyd was the go-to destroyer, as this column predicted in the pre-match round up, throwing to Floyd early and often was the key to a Notre Dame victory.

It helped they played a Navy team that bore no resemblance to last year's squad who hammered the Irish with a massive ground game.

But it was also all about Floyd who was determined to have a big day.

“He had talked about it all week, coming out this week and having a great game,” Kelly said, “and you know, he was not going to be denied today.”

They also put to bed the rumors that the team had begun to fall apart after the USC game.

A Friday evening bare all when coach and players got it all of their chest seemed to have sorted that out.

USC look better in the rear mirror too, They almost defeated Stanford and Andrew Luck -- the Cards needed a triple overtime to win.

The next three games should be easy Notre Dame victories, but then comes the big test against Luck, this Stanford generation's John Elway and Notre Dame in the final game of the season.

If the Irish team that showed up yesterday shows up they have a shot.