It wasn’t perfect, but Notre Dame showed enough offense and defense last week against an undermanned Miami of Ohio team to rack up win No. 4, 52-17.

Almost all of the Irish offense came in the first half when they scored 45 points. In the second half, the offense didn’t do a lot as it appeared that head coach Brian Kelly was working on the passing game, which now seems to be a weak spot for quarterback Brandon Wimbush. It’s no secret Wimbush can run with the ball and create some excitement in doing it, but so far his passing is very inconsistent and that has to be a worry for Kelly when his team faces up against future opponents who have high ratings in stopping the run game.

ND also may be without Wimbush today. He suffered a bruise to his right ankle (foot) in the Miami game and Kelly said he is day-to-day. If he starts today, it could be a start-time decision by Kelly. Wimbush “experienced some foot soreness after the game, so we put him in a walking boot, which is fairly typical,” Kelly said earlier this week. He added that an MRI came back clean and there is no structural damage.

His backup, Ian Book, a sophomore, who played most of the second half last week, and will take over today, if needed. Kelly said both Wimbush and Book learned the new offense at the same time and are on the same page experience-wise.

The Irish also had a rash of injuries to running backs in the Miami game. Injuries to Josh Adams and Tony Jones Jr. forced Kelly to use sophomore Deon McIntosh for the bulk of the ball carrying. The second option running back to Adams, Dexter Williams, was injured in the Michigan State game and wasn’t dressed for the Miami game. Adams, Williams and Jones all are expected to play today.

ND had 333 rushing yards last week, despite the fact that starting running back Adams had to leave the game early. More on the game later.

Today the Irish face a North Carolina Tar Heels team reeling from injuries. At least 13 potential starters or first subs are on the injured list for the Tar Heels. NC enters at 1-4 with a win over Old Dominion, 53-23; and losses to California, 35-30; Louisville, 47-35; Duke, 27-17; and last week to Georgia Tech, 33-7. However, it must be noted that in the four losses, the Tar Heels were ahead in the game heading into the fourth quarter.

Leading the Tar Heels is QB Chazz Surratt, who has completed 81-of-128 passes for 988 yards and five touchdowns with two interceptions. Rushing leaders are Jordon Brown with 269 yards on 54 carries and three scores, and Michael Carter with 206 on 44 and five scores. The top receiver is Anthony Ritiff-Williams with 201 yards on 11 catches and one score. Austin Proehl, with 270 yards on 16 catches and a score, was the leader but he is one of the 13 injured and out for the season.

The final word is that the Tar Heels are struggling on offense but their defense is playing very well.

ND leads the series 17-2. The last time the two teams played was in 2014 with ND winning, 50-43.

The game will be televised nationally by ABC-TV with a 3:40 p.m. kickoff.

IRISH NOTES: Adams finished with 159 yards on eight carries and two TDs in his short time on the field, including a 73-yard TD run. Jones had 48 yards on four and McIntosh 47 on 12. Wimbush finished with seven completions in 18 attempts for 119 yards and three TDs and no interceptions. Equanimeous St. Brown had 42 yards on three catches and a score, Chase Claypool two for 28 and a score, and Miles Boykin one for 54 yards. Jusin Yoon was 1-for-2 on field goals, making a 43-yarder and missing a 44-yarder ... ND finished with a total of 503 yards of offense ... ND stayed perfect in the red zone on offense, 22-of-22, and did it against the nation’s No. 5 red zone defense in Miami ... Wimbush has a pass-efficiency rating of 149.5 ... The game was dedicated to the memory of former Irish head coach Ara Parseghian. Parseghian’s first head coaching job was with Miami of Ohio. Throughout the game and during timeouts, the jumbo-board featured segments about Parseghian and his career ... Not only is Notre Dame dominate in the run game thus far, the Irish are even more efficient. Only Stanford (8.42) and Miami of Fla. (7.47) are averaging more yards per carry than ND (7.14) ... The Sagarin computer has Notre Dame 10th in its rankings this week. Here’s how the Irish opponents rank: 6. Georgia, 14. USC, 16. Miami (Fla.), 18. Stanford, 27. Michigan State, 29. N.C. State, 36. Wake Forest, 50. Navy, 64. North Carolina, 81. Boston College, 93. Temple, 106. Miami (Ohio) ... ND moved up one spot in the AP rankings to No. 21 ... Defensive coordinator Mike Elko’s defense has a five-game streak of holding its opponents to 20 points or fewer ... There is an unconfirmed report circulating in South Bend that Wimbush didn’t hurt his ankle in the Miami game but rather at a party Saturday night celebrating St. Brown’s 21st birthday. As I said, it’s “unconfirmed.” ... At 658 rushing yards for the year, Adams ranks fourth in the nation. For his career, Adams has 2,426 rushing yards, ranking 24th among active players and fifth among non-seniors ... Notre Dame has allowed just three points off turnovers this season, while scoring 70 points on 11 turnovers by their opponents ... In my preseason picks I have the Irish winning today. They are 14-point favorites. If Adams, Williams and Jones are healthy, along with McIntosh, the Irish should be fine as the Tar Heels’ run defense is not very good because of key injuries to their personnel. Missing Wimbush will be a problem but I think Book is more than capable of filling the void. The only thing that Kelly and staff have to worry about is the team looking ahead to next week’s primetime clash with arch-rival USC. I’m sure Kelly is preaching that the Irish focus on today and worry about USC starting Monday.