CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina (3-1, 0-0) gave up 611 yards of offense and tied the most points allowed in program history in a brutal 70-50 loss to James Madison (3-0, 0-0) Saturday.
The Dukes’ 70 points were the most allowed by the Tar Heels since they lost 70-41 to ECU a decade ago.
“Embarrassing day,” UNC coach Mack Brown said. “Shocking day. You shouldn’t be at North Carolina and lose to a group of five team, period.”
All three phases of the game earned their share of the blame in the Tar Heels’ embarrassment, but the defense took the brunt of the beating.
With graduate edge rusher Kaimon Rucker still sidelined due to injury, JMU quarterback Alonza Barnett III had a field day as a passer. He threw for 388 yards and five touchdowns, and two JMU receivers, senior Omarion Dollison and redshirt senior Cam Ross, went over 100 yards with a touchdown each.
“Our defense, who played great all spring, all preseason and played outstanding for the first three games, looked awful today,” Brown said.
Dollison, Ross and other JMU receivers met little resistance from the Tar Heels’ secondary. With just over three minutes left in the first quarter, Barnett found Dollison steps ahead of redshirt freshman Ty Adams for a 69-yard touchdown bomb, putting the Dukes up 18-14.
JMU’s receivers were often wide open down the seams, sidelines and in the end zone. It also didn’t help that the Tar Heels’ defensive line, which has shown great improvement prior to Saturday, failed to put any stress on Barnett.
Despite Barnett dropping back to pass 34 times, UNC only came away two sacks and one quarterback hurry.
“I didn’t think we pressured the quarterback,” Brown said. “I mean we let him throw, and when he ran, he ran good.”
The Dukes also did damage on the ground as eight rushers combined for 388 yards. Barnett, who led the Dukes in rushing yards, ran in two scores to put his touchdown total at 7, which set a new JMU single-game record. And for any UNC fans eager to see what former Tar Heel George Pettaway would do, he also ran hard for 87 yards on 16 carries.
On the first play from scrimmage, a missed assignment allowed Barnett to run to the outside for 38 yards, setting the tone for what was to come for the rest of the afternoon.
“We just didn’t communicate,” Brown said. “I have no idea what happened. I sat there, and I watched it, and I listened to it, and we had guys in the wrong place. I thought after the first drive, they got frustrated and started trying to do too much, and then they quit listening and busted assignments.”
Special teams didn’t help alleviate the bleeding as it actually wounded UNC itself.
The Tar Heels attempted to punt in their own territory down 3-0 early in the first quarter, but JMU senior Terrence Spence blocked the kick and redshirt sophomore Jayden Mines returned it 14 yards for the Dukes’ first touchdown.
Following the long touchdown pass to Dollison later in the quarter, JMU recovered an onside kick and turned that into another touchdown with the help of a 50-yard completion to Dollison plays prior to the score.
“We were screaming onside kick, and it hit us right in the chest and bounced,” Brown said.
Offensively, the biggest issue was the five turnovers. The Tar Heels lost three fumbles, and graduate quarterback Jacolby Criswell, who also committed one of the fumbles, threw two interceptions. Spence returned Criswell’s second interception of the game 33 yards to the house to give JMU a 53-21 lead right before the Tar Heels ran into a locker room to the sound of loud boos from a thinning crowd.
Minutes before that, sophomore quarterback Conner Harrell stepped in for Criswell after his helmet came off the play before, and he dropped the snap. On the next play, Barnett scrambled for a 27-yard touchdown to extend the Dukes’ lead to 46-21.
Outside of those mistakes, the UNC offense was one of its few bright spots. Criswell threw for 475 yards and three touchdowns while junior Omarion Hampton ran for 139 yards and three scores as well.
“They scored 50, so it’d be hard to say they had a bad day,” Brown said about the offense.
Although there’s plenty of blame to go around, Brown put it all on himself in the post-game press conference.
He was the only UNC representative to take questions following the loss as none of the players or assistant coaches were made available.
“I’ve hired everybody on this staff,” Brown said. “I hired everybody that works in this building, and I’ve signed every player on this team. So, people that want to blame me, they should because I am at fault. 100%.”
The 20-point loss isn’t UNC’s worst in its second stint under Brown, but the way it happened was a strong reminder of the disappointment that has come with the questionable losses and late-season let downs that have plagued the Tar Heels the last few seasons.
This time, there’s not a Heisman contender at quarterback to help cure the sour taste from Saturday, but there’s still plenty of talented pieces that can help make amends.
The Tar Heels will need an improved performance across the board to heal the latest wound and come away with the Victory Bell at Duke Saturday at 4 p.m.
