Lessons Learned from the UNC football program's humiliating defeat against JMU

We've been here before

Another defensive coordinator. Another false dawn. When will the North Carolina Tar Heels have a consistent defense that won't let down the offense?

If you score 50 points in a college football game, you should absolutely win that game. I'll grant you that the fumble on the first drive and two interceptions put more pressure and strain on Geoff Collins's young charges, but James Madison was able to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.

The Dukes consistently won the battle at the line of scrimmage, routinely substituted three offensive linemen to run the same guard pull scheme for positive yardage, and kept quarterback Alonza Barnett upright and unbothered. Improvements must be made, and now they'll have to be done against ACC competition.

Duke is up next, and their quarterback is just as good, if not better than Barnett. Will the UNC football allow teams to carve them up the seams, get their cornerbacks stacked, and get whipped on the line of scrimmage? If so, no amount of offensive improvement will save this season.

Decisions need to be made, and the first one needs to be from the defense. Will they stand up?

We'll see next Saturday afternoon.