Two weeks after James Madison narrowly defeated Gardner-Webb 13-6 in a low-scoring home game, the Dukes (3-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) recorded a 70-50 road victory over the winningest active head coach and his pressured 16th-ranked UNC football team on Saturday afternoon at Kenan Stadium.
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JMU’s 53-21 halftime lead marked the most points the Tar Heels have allowed in a half in program history. And the Dukes’ 70 total points are the most of any UNC football opponent.
Here’s what UNC’s Mack Brown said in his opening statement to the media after the devastating loss that his Tar Heels (3-1, 0-0 ACC) will not soon forget:
“An embarrassing day. A shocking day. You shouldn’t be in North Carolina and lose to a Group of Five team, period. There are no excuses.”
“Our defense, which has played great all spring and all preseason and was outstanding in the first three games, looked terrible today. We had communication problems. We missed tackles. We had guys who were completely open for a touchdown.
“Our special teams, which were better than the three teams we played in the first three games, had an onside kick that hit us in the chest that they got for a point and a blocked punt that they got for a point.
“I thought Jacolby (Criswell) played really, really well. He even had an interception right before halftime that led to a touchdown, and Conner (Harrell) came in for a play and dropped the ball that ended up leading to a touchdown.
“So it can only be traced back to one person, and that’s me. I hired every employee. I hired everyone that works in this building. And I signed every player on this team. So, I mean, the people that want to blame me should do that — because I am 100 percent at fault.
“I missed it. We had a great week of practice. I thought we were going to win the game. And then on the first play of the game we had a fumble with a quarterback running 50 yards and somebody doesn’t take the quarterback. Then we had a fumble on the first drive. I mean, it was just a day that started off wrong.
“I really thought we could turn the game around and win it at halftime, because we could have. And we moved the ball well enough at times in the second half to win the game. But we still couldn’t stop them and had to score a goal every time we had one to have a chance of winning the game.
“So, congratulations to JMU. I should have said that. I think Bob (Chesney) is a really good coach, and they did a great job today. And they did better than I did. And that’s what it is.
“I felt sorry for our fans and our students who came to see something like that. And again, there’s only one place you can put it, and that’s me, 100 percent. I have broad shoulders.”
“And I’m embarrassed for our entire program that we’re putting a product like that on the field. I’m really sorry.”
The UNC football team will be hoping for a comeback when the Tar Heels travel to Durham to face Duke (4-0, 0-0 ACC) on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET (ESPN2).
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