AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Maybe it was the altitude. Maybe the noise. But Notre Dame wasn't trying to hear anything.

Carlyle Holiday seemed especially hard of hearing. In the first quarter, after being shocked on a backside blitz, he gave up the ball. That should have been enough to tell him to, you know be cautious, take it easy, do a Jim Everett (surely you remember the ex-Ram quarterback who Jim Rome taunted with the name Chrissy Everett) and hit the deck when the deluge came.

He didn't hear it though.

About four minutes later, he bolted from the pocket and received an even louder message from Falcons' defensive end John Hicks. Out came the rock and the Air Force scored. OK, surely Holiday heard that. Nope. Because on the very next drive, he took off again. Perhaps the wind in his ears blocked out all sound because he skated 53 yards to the house.

If Holiday was hard of hearing, then Arnaz Battle was damn near deaf. At the start of the fourth quarter, his body was clearly talking to him. His legs were cramping, his lungs searing. But he wasn't listening. On a second and 26, he caught a hitch screen, bolted upfield for 20 yards, then muscled for another five with everyone but the Falcons front four on his back. Leaving them with a third and one, Battle went to the sideline.

But while he sat, hunched over on the bench, gasping for air, fellow receiver Carlos Campbell said something Battle knew he couldn't have heard correctly.

Battle, his face scrunched up with incredulous pain, repeated Campbell's statement.

"We're kicking a field, goal?" he asked.

"Yep," said Campbell, confirming that Battle's Herculean effort had gone for naught.

"Aww.." replied a drained Battle.

Not to worry, though. They may have missed that call to put the Falcons away right then, but Battle's defensive teammates displayed their own brand of ignorance. The Air Force offense was the most explosive they had seen all year, but after successfully attacking the edges in the first two series, they finished with 161 total yards -- a whisper for a unit which had been averaging 414.

The Irish's next opponent, Florida State, had a bye Saturday and is surely well rested and hungry after losing to rival Miami last week. That means Notre Dame will probably land in Tallahassee as the underdog. Again.

You can tell them that if you want. But, hell, why bother?

Alan Grant, a senior reporter for ESPN The Magazine, is spending the season in South Bend. Look for his regular reports on ESPN.com. E-mail him at alan.grant@espn3.com