North Carolina hits historic low of Mack Brown era after surrendering 70 points to James Madison

North Carolina plummeted to the absolute rock bottom of Mack Brown’s tenure with Saturday afternoon’s 70-50 loss, at home, to James Madison. This after the Tar Heels (3-1) entered as 10.5-point favorites against the Sun Belt Conference school that lost its coach and a majority of its impact starters in the offseason. 

This is just the second time that an ACC program — also North Carolina — has allowed 70 points in nonconference play since 2014. JMU’s 53 first-half points broke school records for points in a half for both teams and were the most allowed by a Power Four team against a Group of Five opponent since 2012. 

This, from a James Madison team that scored a total of 43 points through its first two games against Charlotte and Gardner-Webb. 

North Carolina didn’t have an answer for Dukes quarterback Alonza Barnett III, who passed for 388 yards and five touchdowns on 22 completions. He also rushed for a team-high 99 yards and two touchdowns. 

James Madison scored on nine of its 15 possessions, not counting those that ended either a half or the game. The Dukes averaged just under nine yards per play and had at least eight plays that covered 20-plus yards. But North Carolina’s defensive struggles overshadow an equally pitiable effort from the other side of the ball. The Tar Heels did turn it on late with 29 points over the last 30 minutes, but by then it was far too late to dig out of the tremendous hole they put themselves in with a lackluster early effort. 

Quarterback Jacolby Criswell had two interceptions through the first two periods, one of which James Madison returned for a touchdown near the end of the first half. Barnett had more total first-half yards as an individual (352) than North Carolina had as a team (311). 

North Carolina’s other quarterback option, Conner Harrell, entered the game for one play in the second quarter when Criswell lost his helmet. Harrell fumbled the snap, allowing James Madison to jump on the ball and then score what was, at the time, a fifth consecutive offensive touchdown. 

To put it plainly: North Carolina looked completely unprepared and uninterested against a team that it should beat handily. That second-half surge might be reason for encouragement if you’re a heavy underdog, but it rings completely hollow when you’re a double-digit home favorite. 

In a lot of ways, Saturday’s game was a microcosm of the Brown era. The defense has been a consistent problem. The Tar Heels are on their third defensive coordinator since 2019 — including their second in the last three years — and Geoff Collins might not be long for Chapel Hill based on this result. 

It’s not like Sam Howell or Drake Maye is walking through the door to save the Tar Heels. North Carolina has started three quarterbacks in four games. Injury luck has been a problem — Texas A&M transfer Max Johnson was lost for the season in Week 1 — but a clear successor hasn’t stepped up yet. 

Not that history provides much hope for a turnaround anyway. Last season, the Tar Heels started 6-0 but finished the year with a 2-5 record, spurned by a home loss to what should have been a severely overmatched Virginia team. North Carolina went 0-4 in its last four games in 2022 and 2-4 in its last six games in 2021. 

This remaining schedule is manageable, however. The Heels don’t have to play a single team currently ranked inside the AP Top 25, and road trips against Duke, Virginia and Boston College aren’t the most daunting environments. 

It’s hard not to feel like the James Madison loss is a point of no return for the program, though. No matter what the Tar Heels do from this point on, such a result will linger like a dark cloud — one that might just be an ominous portent for the rest of Brown’s tenure.