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Mistakes cost JMU

Tar Heels rough up Dukes in Davis' return to college  

Sunday, Sep 02, 2007 - 12:07 AM Updated: 05:23 AM  

By VIC DORR JR. TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- James Madison's Dukes have no one to blame but themselves.

Untimely penalties, a kicking game that was little better than chaotic and crucial breakdowns in pass coverage prevented the visitors from wrecking coach Butch Davis' coming-out party at the University of North Carolina.

The Tar Heels welcomed Davis back to major college football last night with a 37-14 victory over the Dukes in sold-out but not-quite-full Kenan Stadium. But the score was more deceiving than a minister of propaganda in wartime. JMU played the Tar Heels on a more-or-less even basis for the final three quarters after shoving itself into a 24-0 excavation after the first 16:27.

"This was all about the kicking game and turnovers and big plays in the first half," said Dukes coach Mickey Matthews. "It wasn't anything [the Tar Heels] were doing. For a while there, we were just playing very unintelligent football."

Don't misunderstand: Matthews wasn't suggesting that North Carolina bears any resemblance to the ragtag outfit that won only three of 12 games under John Bunting in 2006.

"They were a better football team tonight than they were at any time last year," Matthews said. "They played with more vigor. They played with more intensity." Even so, "We honestly thought we could win. We were concerned about one matchup: their defensive line against our offensive line. But we thought we could hold up -- we thought we were as good as they were everywhere else."

They didn't play that way. North Carolina led 30-7 at the break. It turned a blown assignment in the secondary into a 65-yard touchdown on its third offensive snap. It scored another first-quarter touchdown following an 18-yard punt. It collected its only score of the second half after recovering a blocked punt at the JMU 1-yard-line.

"You can't dig a hole like that in a game like this and expect to win," said JMU quarterback Rodney Landers.

MEET THE NEW BOSS: Davis, conspicuously successful in a six-year career at the University of Miami and less so during four seasons with the Cleveland Browns of the NFL, seems to have had an immediate impact on the attitude, if not the physical capabilities, of the UNC program.

Said North Carolina safety Trimaine Goddard: "I feel like we're a more disciplined team [than in 2006]. I feel like we're aggressive and I think we play very smart. We practice very well, and that carries over to the game, making for a more efficient team."

UP NEXT: JMU will play host to CAA foe New Hampshire on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.