Bill Belichick has already spent two seasons dealing with the week-to-week grind at North Carolina, and now he gets one of the biggest tests yet: No. 3 Notre Dame coming to Chapel Hill on Saturday.
For Belichick, the message hasn’t changed.
"It's the same every week," Belichick said. "Our performance is always about us.
We have to be aware of who we're playing and what their tendencies are. I'm sure they'll do some things that present some problems for us.
In the meantime, all we can do is prepare for what they've done and maybe what we think they'll do."
Notre Dame arrives at 4-0 after rolling past Purdue 49-10, and this will be its second straight road game. North Carolina, meanwhile, sits at 2-1 and had last week off after falling 28-20 at Clemson.
The matchup also gives Belichick only his second chance in two seasons to coach against a ranked opponent at North Carolina. The Tar Heels’ previous such game came last October, when they lost 17-16 in overtime to then-No. 16 Virginia.
Marcus Freeman expects a disciplined team on the other sideline, and he made clear he knows who’s coaching it.
"You don't win as much as he's won without being a great coach and leader," Freeman said. "You see it in the way his team plays."
Notre Dame’s offense has shown progress on the ground, but it still hasn’t cracked 180 rushing yards in a game. Freeman said that part of the attack is trending in the right direction.
"It's improving," Freeman said. "Some of those things are schematic. We're coaching a little bit better based on what we believe the running backs and O-line do well."
Freeman also said freshman running back Jonaz Walton could see more chances.
One area where the Irish have been efficient is on money downs. They have a 41.5% success rate on third downs and have converted five of seven fourth-down attempts.
"It's the confidence I have in our offense and a punt fake," Freeman said. "If that confidence is there, you have to trust it.
It doesn't always convert, but that doesn't mean you're not willing to do it. You make zero fourth-down conversions that you don't try."
Belichick, for his part, sees a team that doesn’t give away much.
"They're sound all the way across the board," he said. "They score a lot of points and they play fast."
North Carolina is staying with quarterback Billy Edwards Jr., even though he has had uneven moments through the first month of the season. The offense bogged down in the second half at Clemson, but Belichick said he isn’t looking to turn the position into a rotation.
"I don't want to get into a musical-chair game there," Belichick said of the quarterback position. "Offensively, we kind of stalled a little bit in that game.
It's a team execution. It doesn't all come back to one guy even though everyone wants to focus on the quarterback."
The Tar Heels also have kicker Rece Verhoff back in the mix after a complicated stretch involving court rulings and his NCAA eligibility.
"He has continued to work hard regardless," Belichick said. "We'll see how it goes. He has done all he can do."
Belichick also said receiver C.J. Sadler’s status remains unsettled after Sadler sat out against Clemson following three speeding tickets in less than two months.
"Yeah, we'll see."
Notre Dame has owned the series, going 21-2 all-time against North Carolina. The Irish’s last loss in Chapel Hill came in 2008, though that result was later vacated by North Carolina because of NCAA violations.
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