North Carolina whipped Connecticut, ranked No. 24 at the time, 38-12 on Saturday, and now looks primed and ready for this week's visit from Notre Dame, the most prestigious program in the country.

But, as is often the case in life and athletics, looks can be deceiving. Coach Butch Davis said that the Tar Heels had enough positives to cover the flaws that remain in their game and must be addressed before UNC can be fully prepared and ready for the Irish (4-1) this week.

The game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. at Kenan Stadium, and will be broadcast on WTVD locally and ESPN nationally.

As Davis noted this week, the Tar Heels weren't perfect against UConn.

"The average starting field position -- not only because of the way the defense played, but certainly with the way the special teams played -- their average field position was the average 21-yard line and ours was the 42," Davis mused. "So, offensively we missed some opportunities.

"We shot ourselves in the foot with one opportunity down inside the 20 yard-line that we didn't capitalize on because we had too many men on the field. We got into the wrong personnel group. We had to waste a timeout."

UConn's offense lacked punch, particularly early in the game, while the Tar Heels rolled up points. Blocked punts and turnovers, such as an interception by UNC senior linebacker Mark Paschal created scoring opportunities near the goal line. But, when Carolina had to move the length of the field, issues were exposed that Davis wants to address this week in practice.

"The biggest opportunities were the missed opportunities offensively that could have kept drives alive and give us chances to score more points," Davis said, citing a make-able but missed field goal as an example.

"Then defensively, we let them off the hook in third-down-and-long situations," Davis said. "Some people got a little bit greedy. You get them into a third-and-16 and you think they're going to throw it into coverage, and some guys got out of position. They (UConn) completed passes and converted. And we hit the quarterback late twice on third downs and gave them automatic first downs."

UNC is ranked in the Associated Press poll at No. 22 this week, the first ranking for a Carolina football team since the 2001 season, which also happens to be the last time the Tar Heels (4-1) had a winning season. Davis said it is way too early to be concerned with rankings, however.

This team has to stay focused and continue to do more than just the minimal amount if it wants to keep winning.

"You talk things at the beginning of the season, although you have no idea how the season is going to play out," Davis said. "Then you talk about the game. It really doesn't matter how you played last week. Our sole mission, every single week that we play, is to win that day and to play better than we did the week before.

"This week, we got a little bit better in kickoff coverage. We got a little bit better in the running game. We didn't throw the ball as well as we threw it against Miami a week ago. We're trying to do the things it takes to win the game.

"We're trying to solely focus on that one game. Once the Miami game is over, we try to put it behind us. Once the Virginia Tech game was over, we put it behind us. We're trying to do the same thing with the Connecticut game and trying to fix the mistakes."

Connecticut entered the game 5-0, but UNC won because the players did much more than just attend practice and go through the motions.

Team leaders exhorted the Tar Heels to do more than expected. And the kids listened.

"Our little slogan this week was that if you want more, you have to do more," Paschal said. "Every guy on this team took that to heart. They came in, 6 in the morning, 5:30 in the morning, watching extra film. That was something that really showed, especially defensively.

"You can't say enough about the unit as a whole. It sucks getting up at 5:30. But this is frickin' worth it. Just being able to cherish this win and enjoy it with the guys you are getting up so early with and spending all this time with, is exciting."

Davis said that was a habit of preparation he wants to see every week.

"I told the players, I put it on our message board, if you're not careful you have a tendency to get complacent," Davis said. "Just because we won an ACC game against Miami really didn't mean much, if you don't follow it up and play well. If you want more as a player, if you want to play more time, more minutes, more plays, you have to do more.

"If you want to do more as a team, you have to do more. You have to study more film. You have to practice harder. If you prepare better, it gives you a chance to play better on Saturday. As a program, we have to do more. We have to expect more out of ourselves."

Eddy Landreth can be reached at chnsports@nando.com