There are bad poorly coached games and then there are the kind of humiliating ones that will make you question the entire direction of your program.
Today Clemson blasted NC State 59-35 in a game that Clemson led 59-14. It was a terrible loss for NC State, but Clemson is starting to get right after the early Georgia loss. They were at home, and while NC State has plenty to work on sometimes the other team is more talented and just better. Things spin out of control and you get blown out.
Let’s not forget Clemson lost their own opener to 34-3.
Then some losses are so humiliating and so stunning, that you have to question every coach and every player.
Today North Carolina had one of those in a 70-50 loss to James Madison. James Madison last week struggled to beat Gardner Webb 13-6, and this week they scored 53 points in the first half. When it was over the Dukes rolled up an astonishing 611 yards against the Tar Heels defense led by the infamous Geoff Collins.
Collins is well known for running the Georgia Tech program straight into the ground from 2019-2022. It came as a surprise that Mack Brown looked to Collins to fix an already mess of a defense. In the opener against Minnesota, you have to admit, that it was the UNC defense that bailed the Heels out of that game. Then it was hard to judge efforts against UNC-Charlotte and NC-Central, but UNC won, and you had to feel like this team was about to start to 4-0. Maybe Collins was just a better DC than Head Coach.
After today’s shocking loss, you can’t reasonably think that.
James Madison to their credit was having none of it. They were faster, smarter, more motivated, and better coached.
Where does UNC go from here? They now have to face a 4-0 Duke team in a rivalry game, who seems to be hitting an offensive stride, and you just gave up 70 points to a G5 team.
Brown has to own this loss, and certainly, Collins has to bear the responsibility for the defensive debacle that is among the worst we’ve ever seen at the P4 level.
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