By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — It turns out that reports of North Carolina’s defense being much-improved needed a fact-check. James Madison delivered it on Saturday as the common lament since the 1970s about “the friendly skies of Carolina” came to mind.

The Dukes took advantage of repeated blown coverages by the Tar Heels’ secondary and an ineffective pass rush. JMU exploited bad defense and special-teams mistakes and rolled to a 70–50 victory that was as stunning as it was ugly.

“Embarrassing day. Shocking day,” said UNC coach Mack Brown after his team gave up 611 total yards. “You shouldn’t be at North Carolina and lose to a Group of Five team. I’m embarrassed for our whole program that we would put a product like that on the field.”

It was the highest scoring game in Kenan Stadium history and a historically bad day for the program.

“It can only come back to one person and that’s me,” Brown said. “I’ve hired everybody that works on this staff, I’ve hired everybody that works in this building and I’ve signed every player on this team. So, the people that want to blame me, they should. Because I am at fault, 100%.”

A positive was that Jacolby Criswell (28 of 48 for 474 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions and a 153.6 passer rating) — despite a few hiccups — proved he’s the best quarterback on the roster. Apart from five costly turnovers, offense wasn’t the problem, with running back Omarion Hampton running for 139 yards and three touchdowns and the Heels putting up 616 total yards, the most in a game since 644 against Syracuse in 2023.

“He made some great throws in what was really his first start,” Brown said of Criswell, who threw for the most yards since Sam Howell’s program-record 550 against Wake Forest in 2020 and the third most in program history. “He will keep getting better and better. He saw a ton of different looks. He was the one bright spot. He’s going to continue getting better.”

Jacolby Criswell solidified his hold on the QB spot with a solid effort on Saturday against James Madison.

James Madison (3–0) had combined for 43 points in its first two games but had 53 by halftime, the most UNC (3–1) had given up in a half in program history. That’s after Carolina only combined to give up 47 points in the first three games.

“We just didn’t communicate, I don’t know why,” Brown said of his defense. “I have no idea what happened. I sat there and watched it and listened to it. We had guys in the wrong place.”

Brown talks about playing to a standard but didn’t see that on Saturday.

“It’s easier to say it than show it,” Brown said. “We talked about it, but we didn’t show it. The kids have a standard, the coaches have a standard, and the university has a standard and none of us lived up to it today. We’re just very disappointed.”

The Dukes put up their highest point total against an FBS team as quarterback Alonza Barnett III threw for five touchdowns, a career-high 388 yards and was responsible for a school-record seven touchdowns. He led JMU in rushing with 115 yards and two touchdowns.

Barnett’s career-long 34-yard run led to a 50-yard Noe Ruelas field goal. The Dukes made it 11–0 when Terrence Spence blocked Tom Maginness’ punt. After Spence’s seventh career block, Jayden Mines scooped up the ball and scored, then JMU completed the two-point conversion on a pass.

“I thought after the first drive, they got frustrated, trying to do too much,” Brown said. “At halftime, I thought we’d come out and stop them.”

After Hampton took a direct snap and handed it to Criswell, the quarterback, in his first start, rolled out and tossed a 35-yard touchdown pass to John Copenhaver. UNC briefly led after a 28-yard Hampton touchdown run four minutes later.

JMU responded on its second play of the next drive, with Barnett hitting Omarion Dollison on a 69-yard touchdown on a free play after UNC was offside. JMU recovered an onside kick, and a Dollison 50-yard reception set up a 3-yard Barnett touchdown run, and JMU led by 11.

Criswell hit tight end Bryson Nesbit on a 34-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter. Barnett countered with touchdown passes of six yards to Cam Ross and 13 yards to Taylor Thompson in the following six minutes.

When Criswell’s helmet came off, Conner Harrell came in for one play and fumbled the snap. Barnett ran 27 yards on the next play for a touchdown. Spence returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown with 56 seconds left to give JMU a 53–21 halftime lead.

After Brown talked on Monday about the quarterbacks sharing snaps, Harrell only played one snap.

Needing to pile up points, UNC had to settle for a 42-yard Noah Burnette field goal on the first drive of the second half. Instead, JMU kept the points coming as Barnett hit Dylan Williams for a 7-yard touchdown pass.

Hampton scored on a 15-yard touchdown run on UNC’s next drive, with Criswell passing to Nesbitt for two points. Minutes later, UNC’s Caleb LaValle blocked a punt and Davion Gause returned for a touchdown, the first such play for Carolina since 2008 against UConn.

After Ruelas’ 44-yard field goal, Hampton scored his third touchdown on a two-yard run. UNC added another touchdown with 1:18 left on a five-yard pass from Criswell to Jordan Shipp.

“I thought coming off of the bye week, we knew we had a lot that we had to
clean up and fix, and I thought we did just that,” JMU coach Bob Chesney said. “I think we never stopped believing in our players. They never stopped believing in themselves.”

NOTES — Carolina opens ACC play at 4 p.m. Saturday at Duke (ESPN2). The Blue Devils were 3–0 heading into Saturday’s game at Middle Tennessee. … It was the second-most combined points in a UNC game in program history, behind only UNC’s 63–55 loss at Appalachian State on Sept. 3, 2022. … The previous high for a home game came in UNC’s 68–60 loss Nov. 10, 2012, to Georgia Tech. … Carolina had more first downs than JMU, 30–25. … Carolina’s 32-point halftime deficit was its largest since trailing 35–0 at Virginia Tech on Oct. 21, 2017. … The teams combined for 729 yards in the first half, the most in a half since UNC and Virginia combined for 798 in the first half on Sept. 18, 2021. … UNC’s five turnovers were its most since six at Miami on Sept. 27, 2018. … UNC players missing the game because of injury were wide receiver Nate McCollum (lower-body injury), defensive back Zion Ferguson (upper body), running back Darwin Barlow (lower body) and linebacker Crews Law (upper body). … JMU’s 54 first-half points topped the 46 Maryland scored against UNC in the first half in 2003 and its previous high against an FBS opponent of 28 against Coastal Carolina. … It was JMU’s first win in four meetings with UNC. … JMU is 4–10 against ACC teams. … JMU’s 70 points were the most against UNC since a loss at ECU in 2014. … Amare Campbell and Power Echols each had a team-high eight tackles. … The attendance was announced as 50,500 but the stadium wasn’t nearly at capacity and most of the student section cleared out at halftime.

JMU 70, UNC 50

Month/ date	Opponent	Time/ score	TV/ record
August
29	at Minnesota	W, 19–17	1–0
September
7	vs. Charlotte	W, 38–20	2–0
14	vs. N.C. Central	W, 45–10	3–0
21	vs. James Madison	L, 70–50	3–1
28	at Duke	4 p.m.	ESPN2
October
5	vs. Pittsburgh	TBA	TBA
12	vs. Georgia Tech	TBA	TBA
26	at Virginia	TBA	TBA
November
2	at Florida State	TBA	TBA
16	vs. Wake Forest	TBA	TBA
23	at Boston College	TBA	TBA
30	vs. N.C. State	TBA	TBA