UNC ends long week with 56-28 victory over James Madison

Less than four minutes had gone by on Saturday before James Madison ended an 82-yard drive with a touchdown against North Carolina’s beleaguered defense, and Larry Fedora, the Tar Heels coach, said later that in that moment he sensed a disconcerting vibe.

His players, he said, “needed an attitude adjustment” amid what Fedora described as “too much negative energy.” He insisted that the negativity materialized only then, after the Dukes’ easy scoring drive, but it would have been understandable had the negativity carried over from days earlier.

It had, after all, been a long week, one that ended with the Tar Heels’ 56-28 victory against James Madison on Saturday at Kenan Stadium. It was a predictable result after an unpredictable week, one in which a disturbing sexual assault allegation emerged against one of Fedora’s players.

“We had a lot of things, a lot of distractions throughout the week,” Fedora said after his offense generated 635 yards on Saturday. “But you know what – that’s like in the game of life. You still got a job to do, you got to do it, and you can’t let things like that bother you.”

And yet the allegation against Allen Artis, a junior linebacker, did bother his teammates. Days earlier, on Tuesday, Delaney Robinson, a UNC sophomore, held a news conference.

She sat between her father and her attorney, looked straight ahead into an assembled mass of reporters and television cameras and accused Artis of raping her last Feb. 14 during an encounter at on-campus apartment. Robinson, who admitted to drinking alcohol underage, said she was incapacitated at the time.

She said UNC’s Department of Public Safety, and the university’s Title IX office, which is also responsible for investigating allegations of sexual assault on campus, mishandled their investigations. And so Robinson and her attorney self-swore warrants against Artis, who was charged with misdemeanor sexual battery and assault on a female.

He was suspended from the football team on Tuesday and turned himself in on Wednesday. All the while, some of his teammates used social media to express solidarity, shock, or both. After the Artis case broke, Des Lawrence, a senior cornerback, wrote on Twitter that it’s “sad out here. Throwing boys the book.”

Jalen Dalton, a sophomore defensive end, simply wrote, “I stand with Allen Artis.”

Somewhere along the way, Fedora told his players to express better judgment. Some of them spoke about that after their victory on Saturday – that Fedora warned them about how social media behavior could be interpreted.

“Coaches definitely reminded us to be smart whenever we’re in different situations,” said Cayson Collins, a junior linebacker. “But (Fedora) definitely reminded us to stay off of Twitter with our personal opinions on the situation. Because nobody really knows what happened.

“So nothing we say is going to help the situation, and coach has definitely reminded us of that.”

At one point earlier in the week, Fedora seemed to beg for the chance to talk about football. He had been asked several questions about the state losing NCAA and ACC championship events in protest of House Bill 2. He had been asked several questions about Artis.

He reminded reporters: There’s a game on Saturday, you know.

Yet behind the scenes, it was different. Fedora, too, spoke with his players about Artis, who had become, right or wrong, an example and a cautionary tale.

“It was difficult,” Ryan Swizer, the senior receiver, said after he caught five passes for 101 yards against James Madison. “Because that’s your brother, that’s someone that you love, and care for, that’s going through a tough situation. A big emphasis was put on taking our frustration or anything we’ve got to say out tonight (against James Madison) instead of social media or instead of in the news, or anything like that.”

The Tar Heels started sluggishly on Saturday. They trailed 21-14 at the end of the first quarter. During those first 15 minutes they allowed nearly half of the 495 yards they eventually allowed during the entire game.

Eventually the inevitability set in. UNC, against a lower-division Football Championship Subdivision opponent, scored touchdowns on its first eight full possessions, and Mitch Trubisky, the junior quarterback, passed for a career-high 432 yards and three touchdowns against an inferior defense.

And so the Tar Heels celebrated an expected victory in their first home game. It was, in some ways, an easy ending to a difficult week – though the criminal case against Artis, a reserve who contributed mostly on special teams, is just beginning.

Days before Saturday, Fedora expressed a desire to talk more about football, the game in which he makes his living. Instead he often found himself discussing more serious matters, reminding his players of the importance of good choices and proper actions.

“Some guys are closer than others on the team,” Switzer said on Saturday, “and there’s a lot of guys that are really, really close with Allen. And love him to death. And they’re hurting. So sometimes the frustration gets the best out of you.”

This story was originally published September 17, 2016 at 9:58 PM with the headline "UNC ends long week with 56-28 victory over James Madison."