Notre Dame’s win over Wake Forest last week was expected, but the play of the Irish in the 48-37 victory created a lot of questions — especially for the defense.

The Irish defense suddenly developed a lot of holes, which will have to be quick-fixed for tonight’s big showdown in South Florida with the Miami Hurricanes.

Head coach Brian Kelly admitted after the game that it was a poor performance by his team, especially on defense where there were numerous mental lapses. It was the first time this year that the Irish allowed an opponent to score more than 20 points. Also, the Irish gave up 348 passing yards along with 239 rushing. That shows a complete lack of determination by the highly ranked Irish, No. 3 in the playoff poll and No. 5 in the AP regular season standings.

Some of the ND players also expressed their own disappointment with the overall performance of the team, considering they entered the game ranked so high and expected to dominate the undermanned and injury-riddled Wake Forest club.

Hopefully, Kelly and staff have gotten it together for tonight’s game, because Miami is a heck of a lot better team than Wake Forest and has a more potent offense that the Demon Deacons.

The offense didn’t miss a beat, despite playing most of the game without leading rusher Josh Adams, who was sidelined with an injury. Also, quarterback Brandon Wimbush got his “bell rung” near the end of the first half but managed to come back and play a good portion of the second before Kelly pulled him when he felt the Irish were in a lead that WF couldn’t catch.

Adams returned to practice on Monday, as did Wimbush, and both appeared to be recovered from their injuries. Kelly described Adams’ problem as being run down in the days leading up to the Wake Forest game, due in part to a high academic demand. He said earlier this week that Adams is back at full strength.

Kelly also denied a report on ESPN that Adams suffered a head injury against the Demon Deacons. Kelly said, “He was never, I repeat, never in the concussion protocol.”

Wimbush’s problem was a bruise to his non-throwing hand, which Kelly said is healing and should not present a problem tonight.

More on the WF game later.

Tonight the Irish face unbeaten rival Miami, who enters at 8-0 and ranked No. 7 nationally.

The Irish and Miami have had some great games in the past, including the fame “Catholics vs. Convicts” contest.

Miami enters with a potent offense and a more-than-capable defense.

The offense is led by QB Malik Rasin, who has completed 153 of 273 passes for 2,264 yards and 19 touchdowns. He also has had seven interceptions. The top rushers are Travis Homer, with 95 carries and 612 yards and six scores, Mark Walton (428 on 56 and three scores) and Rasin (295 on 82 and three scores). Top receivers are Braxton Berrios, 465 yards on 35 catches and seven TDs, and Christopher Hensden IV, 392 on 31 and four scores.

The Miami wins have been over Bethune-Cookman, 41-13, Toledo, 52-30, Duke, 31-6, Florida State, 24-20, Georgia Tech, 25-24, Syracuse, 27-19, North Carolina, 24-19, and last week Virginia Tech, 28-10.

ND leads the series, 18-7-1. The teams last played in 2016 with ND winning, 30-27. ND has won the last four meetings.

The game will be televised nationally by ABC-TV with a scheduled kickoff about 8:10 p.m.

IRISH NOTES: Wimbush finished with 280 passing yards on 15 of 30 passes and one score against Wake Forest. He rushed for 110 yards on 12 carries and two TDs. Deon McIntosh had 63 yards rushing on nine carries and a score, and Tony Jones Jr. 59 on 10 and a score. Ian Book, who finished the game for Wimbush, rushed three times for 54 yards and was 8 for 8 passing for 60 yards and a TD. Top receivers were Chase Claypool with nine catches for 180 yards and score, Durham Smythe, 36 on two, and Equanimeous St. Brown, two for 36. ND had a total offense of 710 yards which included 380 yards rushing and 330 passing. That is 10 yards short of the all-time record set against Navy 48 seasons ago ... Junior tight end Alize Mack, who missed last week’s game after suffering a concussion, will play tonight ... Junior running back Dexter Williams continues to have injury problems. Last week he suffered a thigh contusion that limited him to three carries for 32 yards. His status for tonight is questionable ... ND is averaging 41.3 points a game, more than three points per game more than the school record set by Ara Parseghian’s 1968 team ... Wide receiver Cam Smith has missed three straight games with a hamstring injury, and his status for tonight is still up in the air ... ESPN’s College GameDay will be telecast from the Miami campus on Saturday morning. It will be the 28th game GameDay has been at for a Notre Dame game, with the Irish 12-15 in the previous 27 appearances. The last six GameDay appearances involving Notre Dame have been road games, with the Irish 8-10 all-time when appearing as the road team. The most recent Irish GameDay appearance came on Oct. 31, 2015, when GameDay was in Philadelphia for Notre Dame’s 24-20 win at Temple ... Tonight’s game is in the Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL Miami Dolphins ... Notre Dame had six players (Heisman trophy candidate Adams, RB Jones Jr., RB Williams, RB McIntosh, WR Kevin Stepherson and QB Wimbush) record runs of at least 10 yards vs. Wake Forest ... OG Quenton Nelson is the highest-rated offensive guard in the country by Pro Football Focus (38.8), grading out more than nine points higher than the next highest rated guard (29.0). Nelson has not allowed a sack in 635 snaps ... CB Julian Love became the eighth Irish player to return two interceptions for touchdowns in a season when he recorded a pick-six against NC State to join his earlier INT return for a TD against Michigan State. Love recorded his third pick against Wake Forest and owns a single-season school-record 14 pass break-ups ... In my preseason picks I picked Miami to win this one. Based on last week’s poor performance by the defense, the home crowd advantage, I will stay with my original pick.