CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina coordinators Phil Longo and Jay Bateman met with the media for their weekly game-week press conferences Monday as the Tar Heels prepare to host No. 2 Notre Dame on Friday at Kenan Stadium.

Longo and Bateman discussed elements of their units, a few specific players and a lot about what makes the Fighting Irish so good on both sides of the football.

Here are videos of their full pressers along with some notes and pulled quotes from what they had to say:

*Notre Dame’s defense is ranked No. 9 in the nation allowing just 304 total yards per game, including No. 4 in rushing defense, allowing just 85.1 yards on the ground per contest. There were no shortage of compliments by Longo when asked about the Fighting Irish’s defensive unit.

"This will be the most physical group we've seen,” Bateman said. “They're really, really good up front. I think they're giving up about 80 yards a game rushing. Clemson, who we all know is very, very talented, rushed the ball for 34 yards with, in my opinion, one of the best running backs in the country.

“So, it's gonna be a challenge here to, one, physically compete with their front on the line of scrimmage. Our guys are looking forward to it. I think the second level, the linebackers 33 and 40, do a phenomenal job with defending the run game. They're really gap sound, they're not out of position. They squeeze the box and 6 and 14 are elite tacklers. Six and 14 are future NFL players. They split them, very rarely do you see 14 and 6 on the same side of the field.

“I wouldn't put them on the same side either. Both of them basically man their part of the jungle and they handle it very, very well and they're great tacklers. So, they're gonna try to spill everything to those two guys and let them clean up the run game."

*Players are going to be excited for a game like this, but what about coaches? In Longo’s case, is there a level of excitement similar to the players, or is it more the intrigue of seeing how his offense will do against such an outstanding defense that gets him going?

“It really comes down to, and I hate to downplay any game, every game after you play it is either a win or a loss. It has the same value,” Longo said. “I think when you have a team like Notre Dame that is so good at what they do, and we work so hard to be good at what we do, it’s fun, it’s exciting to prepare for and get ready for and try to compete against somebody that does what they do at such a high level.

“So this is an opportunity for us to see if we can do it against what I think right now is probably going to be, from top to bottom, the most physical defense that we’ll see this year, and overall statistically, the best defense we’ll see this year. That part of it is exciting.

“I think really, we’ve got to focus on North Carolina this week and do what we do and then we’ve got to be willing to bring it physically on Friday night.”

*UNC is ranked No. 4 in total offense averaging 563 yards per game, No. 14 in rushing offense averaging 233.5 yards per contest. Given the difficult challenge awaiting the Tar Heels on Friday and the importance in the game of running the ball well, what has improved most about UNC’s run blocking during the course of the season?

"We finish better,” Longo said. “You know we always talk about finishing. I always evaluate. The first thing when I watch the film when I'm watching the o-line is just to see how well we finish. Typically when we have explosive runs. I always say when the line block well enough to beat the line of scrimmage with the running backs. You don't want to have to coach the running backs on that side of the field. At that point it becomes about their ability and their talent, but you can help explosives.

“You can promote more explosives in the run game when you do a good job blocking at the second level. That will be absolutely paramount against Notre Dame. Of course Notre Dame brings the second level to you. We are going to see linebackers closer to the line of scrimmage in this game than we have seen all year. That in itself will be more of a physical challenge for us than we have seen recent weeks."

*The 59-53 win over Wake Forest on Nov. 14 was actually a game in which UNC’s defense played a crucial role in the victory. The Tar Heels stopped the Demon Deacons on five consecutive possessions while UNC’s offense forged a 35-0 run to take the lead it wouldn’t relinquish. On the field for much of that defensive stretch were some true freshmen, so what did Bateman see from Tony Grimes, Ja’Quarious Conley, Myles Murphy and redshirt freshman Kevin Hester during that period that he liked?

"Tony, I thought played tremendous,” Bateman said. “And really, when we put Tony in, we kind of made a decision to play a little but different coverage concept and we knew he was gonna be in man coverage a lot and I thought he played really well. Ja'Qurious went in and that was part of the game plan, too. We felt like getting a fifth DB in was gonna help us. Myles Murphy I think has really improved, really the last three or four weeks.

“And the most exciting thing for me now is he's finally got the club off, so he can use his hands and I think that will help a lot. But, they all played really well and I think you're gonna continue to see them play more and more these next three weeks."

*UNC will get starting corner Kyler McMichael back for this game and could get Storm Duck back. What kind of impact could that have on the Tar Heels if both are ready to go and near full strength?

"There was a reason that they were starting,” Bateman said. “We kind of thought they were really good players and I think we've played really well when those two kids were playing. So it means a lot. That doesn't mean that corner has been the issue cause it hasn't.

“Those two help but when you can go out and play man it solves some issues for you. I think Kyler has looked really well and Storm is really improved."

*One true freshman who did not playing during that noted stretch versus Wake Forest was Desmond Evans. He didn’t get in for one snap. What was the reasoning behind that?

“Like what we talked about, I didn’t think Des had a really good week of practice,” Bateman said. “I think he’s had a tremendous two weeks of practice (since). And here’s the thing, with some of these young freshmen, we don’t think they’re going to be good players, we think they’re going to be great players.

“So, I’m demanding of them that they earn their playing time because that’s going to pay off for us a year from now and two years from now. And I think Des has practiced tremendous this week. And if he continues to practice like he’s practicing, he’s going to play a bunch. The standard is that you come out to work every day and you’re locked in and you’re focused and you do your job.

“And when you do that you play more. That’s the standard we need to adhere to right now.”

*Jacob Turner & Deana King contributed to this report.