Mack Brown offered to resign after a blowout loss to James Madison, but North Carolina players refused

North Carolina coach Mack Brown told his team after Saturday’s 70-50 loss to James Madison that he would “go away and resign if he was the problem,” sources told 247Sports’ Inside Carolina. The players supported Brown and took responsibility themselves after his speech.

“He’ll be in the office tomorrow and get back to work,” a source told Inside Carolina Saturday night. “He’ll come home and have a normal Sunday.”

North Carolina entered its Week 4 game against James Madison with a 10.5-point lead, but gave up a team-high 53 points in the first half against the Dukes. North Carolina had no answer for Dukes quarterback Alonza Barnett III, who passed for 388 yards and five touchdowns on 22 completions. He also ran for a team-high 99 yards and two touchdowns.

It was also just the second time an ACC program has allowed 70 points in a non-conference game since 2017, when North Carolina lost 70-41 to East Carolina. The Tar Heels have allowed 40 points in 14 games under Brown and are 6-8 in such games. North Carolina is also 2-4 in its last six games against FBS competition.

You can read much more about this unusual story in Inside Carolina.

It was the worst possible moment for North Carolina and for Brown, an active Hall of Fame head coach who won a national championship with Texas in 2005. As IC’s Adam Smith writes:

Only five previous opponents in Carolina’s 136-year college football history had cracked the 60-point threshold, and JMU joined the club as the sixth on Saturday. The Dukes, an FBS newcomer in just their third season competing at the level, matched the 70-41 annihilation the Tar Heels suffered at East Carolina in September 2014. That dubious loss was the most points UNC has allowed — until now.