SOUTH BEND, Ind. — One week after surrendering 45 points in a home loss to Notre Dame, North Carolina rebounded Saturday with a 41-10 win over Virginia Tech.

The Hokies (2-3) have struggled offensively this season with FBS rankings of No. 117 in scoring offense (18.2 points per game) and No. 111 in total offense (318.6 points per game). The Tar Heels (4-1) lowered those averages by allowing only 10 points and 273 yards in the blowout win.

Does that mean North Carolina’s defense isn’t as bad as Notre Dame made it look the previous weekend? Maybe. Maybe not.

"I think North Carolina's a good football team and you saw that again this Saturday with them going out and winning again,” said Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman on Monday. “They're a talented football team. They're a good football team, well-coached.”

But the Tar Heels still sit at No. 120 in total defense (450.8 yards per game) and tied at No. 112 scoring defense (33.6 points per game). That context matters when trying to figure out if Notre Dame’s offensive success against North Carolina will lead to future success.

What that Notre Dame performance did illustrate was a blueprint of what the Irish would like to be on a more consistent basis.

“That's what our identity has to be,” Freeman said. “We have to be able to run the ball. It's not always going to be explosive, 10-, 15-yard gains, but if you're able to move the ball with consistency and stay on track and stay in rhythm, it opens up everything in your offense and pass game. It's great to see.

“It's a testament to our offensive line. It starts with them. I don't care what running back you have back there, if your offensive line isn't executing, blocking, to the way it has to, nobody's going to be able to run the ball. Our offensive line continues to get better and better and better, which is really helping out our run game."

Run defense has been a weakness for Notre Dame’s next opponent, No. 16 BYU (4-1). Ahead of Saturday’s Shamrock Series matchup in Las Vegas (7:30 p.m. EDT on NBC), the Cougars entered the week allowing 162.6 rushing yards per game, which ranked No. 93 in the FBS. That should allow ND to operate with an offense that aligns with its identity.

That identity must be developed and sharpened through practice. As the season progressed, Freeman changed the messaging he emphasized to his players and coaching staff. After the Ohio State loss, he wanted the team to focus on finishing. Since the Marshall loss, he pushed preparation into the spotlight.

“That's been a big point of emphasis for me,” Freeman said. “I don't care if we complete the ball. I don't care if it's a tackle for a loss. What did Johnny do on this play? Did he do his job: yes or no? If not, then why not and let's fix it. That to me is more important than anything is that our coaches coach every play, and we evaluate every play, and not worry so much about the outcome.

“It's a point of emphasis. If we have to stop practice, stop practice. If we are in the middle of a scout team period and we need to stop it to correct somebody, stop it and correct it. Because we can't just go on saying, ‘OK, hey, we made a good play, Johnny didn't do his job, but we scored a touchdown.’"

The hope is that mindset leads to many more touchdowns for Notre Dame’s offense and fewer for the Irish defense, too.

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Notre Dame practiced Tuesday through Thursday of last week as Freeman wanted to make sure there was still a physicality in the off week.

But players working their way back from injuries were given time to continue recovering. Most notably, safeties Ramon Henderson and DJ Brown entered this week on track to play against BYU. Henderson missed the North Carolina game with an ankle injury, and Brown missed the second half of the game with a hamstring injury.

“Rob Hunt, our head athletic trainer, texted me this morning that both of them look really good (Monday) and expect them to go and practice,” Freeman said. “Obviously, we still have five days before our game, but I would expect both of those guys to be ready to go."

Sophomore tight end Mitchell Evans won’t be making his return to action this week. He’s been sidelined with a broken fifth metatarsal in his left foot since July.

“He's getting closer and closer,” Freeman said. “If you asked Mitch, he's ready to go. But you ask the doctors, not quite yet. I hope to see him in another week or two.”

Fellow sophomore tight end Cane Berrong, who tore the ACL in his right knee last October, has been given clearance for full participation in practice the last couple of weeks.

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Freeman has confidence in his team’s ability to not be distracted by everything downtown Las Vegas has to offer once the team arrives Friday.

“We're not going to get out there in time to experience any of the distractions that I think Las Vegas can present,” Freeman said. “We're going to get there and be very strategic in what we do. Go to the stadium. I want them to go see Allegiant Stadium, spend a little bit of time there, go straight to the hotel, have dinner.

“We'll have some time together, a normal meeting that we have on Friday nights, and then they're going to go to bed.”

Freeman plans to personally make sure everyone’s in bed when they’re supposed to be.

"They got the head coach, who will be doing bed check at 8:30 Pacific Time on Friday night. So, I'm not too concerned."

• New NCAA rules this season allow for teams and conferences to ask the NCAA national coordinator of officials to review targeting penalties that occur in the second halves of games in order to determine if the player should still be suspended for the first half of the following game.

Notre Dame did so last week with regards to linebacker JD Bertrand’s targeting penalty against North Carolina. That appeal was denied, so he will still miss the first half of Saturday’s game against BYU.

“They said that in their opinion, that was a targeting penalty, and they denied our appeal,” Freeman said. “He'll be out for the first half of this game. I'll save my opinion. But, yeah, we felt like we had a strong appeal, and it was denied.”

• The preseason experiment with junior Xavier Watts playing wide receiver has ended. The Irish gave the former wide receiver some practice reps at the position due to a lack of depth on the roster, but he’s only practicing at safety these days.

Per Pro Football Focus, Watts has played 61 defensive snaps in four games for the Irish. He totaled five tackles and one pass breakup during his work on defense and special teams.

“He's all safety now,” Freeman said. “We tried him in fall camp a little bit, moving him back to offense, but (safeties coach Chris) O'Leary wanted to fight every day to keep him on defense. We just felt his role had more value to our team on defense than to go on offense and really compete to try to get playing time.

“We knew that defensively there was already a plan for him to play. After a couple practices, we said ‘You know what? Let's just keep him on defense.’"

• Injured sophomore quarterback Tyler Buchner has been spending his game days in the press box with offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and the rest of the coaching staff not located on the field.

“It started off with we didn't want him in any harm's way,” Freeman said. “He was fresh, I think two or three days out of surgery, and we wanted to get him away from anywhere that he could possibly be in harm's way. I think he's up there charting plays now and being another set of eyes. He's writing down notes.

“If that's more beneficial for our offense, let's do it. Maybe at some point he will come down and be a voice for Drew (Pyne) and Steve (Angeli), but keeping him in the press box is one for safety, but two, it's a way he can chart things and sit down and be a set of eyes up there for us."

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