CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Mack Brown has spent 35 years as a major college football coach. He knows what an unacceptable performance looks like.
North Carolina’s 70-50 loss to James Madison on Saturday was something, he said, that should never happen.
“Embarrassing day, shocking day,” Brown said. “You shouldn’t be at North Carolina and lose to a Group of Five team, period. There are no excuses. Our defense looked awful. We had communication problems, we had missed tackles. We had guys wide open for a touchdown.”
Alonza Barnett III threw five touchdown passes in the Dukes’ quick-strike offense to give first-year coach Bob Chesney a signature victory over an Atlantic Coast Conference team.
“It can only come back to one person and that’s me,” said the 73-year-old Brown, who won a national title at Texas and is in his second stint at UNC. “I’ve hired everybody on this staff and signed every player on this team. I am at fault 100 percent. I got big shoulders, and I’m embarrassed for our whole program that we would put a product like that on the field.”