The UNC defense was in shambles in the game against James Madison as the visiting team had a lead of 11 points in the first five minutes. The offense tried hard to take the team out of the deficit but an uncooperative defense ended the game in a loss for the team. In the worst defensive shows of all time, the UNC team gave up 70 points.
Advertisement
While talking to the media after the game, Coach Mack Brown expressed his disappointment with the overall failure of the defense and claimed that things started going wrong from the first minute itself. He said:
“We have a fumble on the first drive, It was just a day that started wrong. I really thought we’d turn it around at halftime and still win a game and because we could have and we moved the ball at times well enough in the second half to win the game but we still couldn’t stop them.”
In the game, Duke’s quarterback Alonza Barnett III led the offense by scoring 5 touchdowns, covering 399 passing yards and 99 rushing yards.
The team scored their first points within two minutes and had an 11-0 lead in no time. The offense was always on the move and never left any opportunity to score.
The silver lining for coach Brown’s team was: QB Jacolby Criswell, who scored twice while throwing 28 passes, and running back Omarion Hampton, who scored three touchdowns with 139 rushing yards.
After the game, the head coach was fuming with anger but still shielded his team from the media scrutiny and took the blame on himself.
Coach Brown takes the blame for the 50-70 loss
James Madison just handed a top-tier North Carolina team a shock loss on their own home ground and the UNC coach had no one to blame but himself for the record loss.
The Tar Heels coach was unhappy with the team’s collective failure but took the blame himself as he was the one who “hired everybody that worked in the building.” He added that despite preparing well for the challenge the team was on the back foot after they failed in their first attempt to score.
The team’s first attempt started with Jacolby throwing a massive 42-yard pass to wide receiver Christian Hamilton. However, Hamilton fumbled the next pass and the ball went to the Duke’s. The opposing team went on a blitzkrieg and had 53 points on the board by the end of the 1st half.
The loss broke UNC’s 3-win streak and gave the coach a reality check by exposing holes in the team’s defense. Now, it’s on Coach Brwon to collect the pieces and do the best he can to fix the team before the next game against the Blue Devils.
