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"That's football," Irish fullback Joey Goodspeed said. "That's life."

That's not a good enough explanation.

"The thing we have to do is learn, learn, learn from our experiences," said Bob Davie, Notre Dame coach and recent recipient of a contract extension through 2003.

The trouble is that Davie, in his third year as coach, had his team clearly unprepared for its experiences the past two games. They were tough assignments, sure, but this is Notre Dame, not Northern Illinois.

Last week at Michigan, the Irish had excessive-celebration and late-hit penalties, both at critical moments. On Saturday, it was worse - brain lock at the end of both halves, blowing a chance for a field goal before halftime and then blowing a chance for a game-winning touchdown.

A 28-23 loss to Purdue, which dropped Notre Dame's record to 1-2, ended with quarterback Jarious Jackson ducking reporters as he boarded a bus. That's not how leaders, especially lone team captains, are supposed to act. But these are difficult times for the Irish, who now look as if they're headed for another low-level bowl game.

"After the game was over, when I shook hands with Bob, I told him, 'Let's not make a habit of this,'" Purdue coach Joe Tiller said of the nerve-rattling finish.

Davie will happily oblige.

Notre Dame had the ball on Purdue's 1-yard line with the clock stopped and 16 seconds left. A touchdown would have won the game. The plan was to run into the line and have enough time to run another play if it didn't work.

With three running backs behind him, Jackson called a decoy audible that was interpreted by the running backs as the real thing -- changing the play to the second option, which was ... an option play. Instead of running into the line, the backs ran the option. The play busted and Jackson went down hopelessly at the 10-yard line.

There wasn't enough time to run another play. In front of its largest home crowd since 1981, Purdue's players and coaches went wild. Meanwhile, Notre Dame searched for answers.

"I think we've all learned that we shouldn't be in a situation like that where we have (two plays called) at all, with their crowd and a lot of noise," Davie said. "Just the potential for that check jumped out and bit us. I take responsibility for that."

Jarious Jackson loses 9 yards on a critical fourth-quarter play.(AP)

But that was only the last dumb mistake. The end of the first half looked worse. In a situation where the Irish had hustled their "fast field goal" team onto the field, Jackson didn't get the message. He was still there, trying to take a snap. Time ran out before halftime.

"What happened is, we had one player who thought we were still going to spike the ball," Davie said. "We had the 'fast field goal' team. I don't think in the end that was the difference in the game."

Except that three points would have meant the Irish could have kicked a field goal at the end and won the game instead of having to score a touchdown.

"Once again, the communication was not as clean as it could be," Davie said.

And that's not even to mention Notre Dame's delay in calling its last time out with 16 seconds left. The Irish wasted about eight seconds before making the call.

"They called time out," Davie said of Purdue. "Their kid went like this (making the time out sign) and we thought they called time out. And the clock never stopped. They flat called time out. That's what caused that delay."

Why not call it yourself just to make sure?

Davie also said something about Notre Dame's new coaches' headphones not working well, but the coach hastened to add that he wasn't making excuses.

As reporters waited outside Notre Dame's locker room, executive vice president Father William Beauchamp, who oversees the athletic department, emerged. His cheeks puffed as he blew out air slowly in frustration.

Davie usually gives his players Sunday as the NCAA-mandated day off, but he doesn't want this loss to fester.

"What I don't want to do is let this game sit until Monday," Davie said. "I want to take our time tomorrow and look at everything we called, everything we tried to execute. Tomorrow is a day without classes. And I think it's good for our football team to get back together tomorrow."

Notre Dame brought its traditional "Play Like a Champion Today" sign that all the players touch before going onto the field. It was taped near the locker room door.

But the Irish don't need to play like a champion. They need to think and communicate like one.