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North Carolina Football played the James Madison Dukes in Week 4 and the result shocked everyone. The Tar Heels endured their first loss of the season against the Dukes in a 70-50 beatdown on the Tar Heels. North Carolina football head coach Mack Brown didn't hold back after his team's loss.
“Embarrassing day,” Brown said, via Shelby Swanson of The News & Observer. “Shocking day. You shouldn’t be at North Carolina and lose to a Group of Five team. Period. There are no excuses.”
Although James Madison isn't in a Power-5 conference, they've had a nice start to the season. They're currently undefeated and faced a tough task going into Chapel Hill and taking on the Tar Heels. Although North Carolina is without star quarterback Max Johnson, they've performed well up until Saturday's clash. Specifically, the defense showed some real promise. However, James Madison put those presumptions on hold.
As a whole, North Carolina allowed 388 passing yards, and 223 rushing yards to the Dukes. Also, they only forced James Madison to commit one turnover, while the Tar Heels committed five themselves. In the previous two games, North Carolina allowed a combined 37 points. In the first half alone, James Madison had 53 points.
Is there concern for North Carolina football after losing to James Madison?
Allowing 70 points against any opponent is a tough pill to swallow, especially when it's against a non-Power 5 opponent. Multiple students left the stadium before the game ended. One interesting note was that James Madison received a $500,000 payout from North Carolina before the two teams squared off.
James Madison is still a fantastic program. In 2023, they went 11-2 and were first in the Sun Belt Conference. However, they didn't make it to the conference championship game. Still, they went to the Armed Forces Bowl and lost 31-24 to Air Force. This season, they're off to an undefeated start.
Regardless, when Brown spoke to the media following the game, he took responsibility for the lopsided loss.
“It can only come back to one person, and that’s me,” the Tar Heels coach said. “I’ve hired everybody on the staff. I hired everybody who works in this building, and I’ve signed every player on this team. So, I mean, the people that want to blame me? They should. Because I am at fault.”
North Carolina has an interesting path in the ACC and possibly a bowl game. Teams like Miami (FL) and even Boston College have shown promise in a fickle conference. Luckily for North Carolina, they haven't played a conference opponent yet. That will change in Week 5 as they take on the Duke Blue Devils in North Carolina's first test in conference play.
