Maybe Larry Fedora was onto something earlier this summer when he said football was under attack. At the very least, the ineptitude of his North Carolina team sure makes it look that way in Chapel Hill.

Prior to Saturday, the worst loss any FBS team had suffered early in this college football season was East Carolina opening up with a putrid 28-23 loss to North Carolina A&T. So what, then, does that make North Carolina’s subsequent face plant against that same ECU team, losing 41-19?

Here’s what that makes it: The moment Fedora probably can’t come back from.

His tenure already teetering after going 3-9 last year, Fedora has compounded his verbal missteps in 2018 with results that will probably lead to his exit sooner rather than later.

Remarkably, it could get worse before it gets better. At 0-2 already, the Tar Heels next face UCF, Pittsburgh, Miami and Virginia Tech in succession, which means 0-6 isn’t just on the table but is the most likely outcome of the next month.

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And even though North Carolina fans may not care about football as much as basketball, that doesn’t mean they will accept it — particularly when Fedora’s undeserved arrogance too often leads him to stick his foot in his mouth.

Just this week, for instance, Fedora drew unnecessary attention to his troubles when he said he didn’t remember anything about the 70-41 loss he suffered to ECU back in 2014. It started Wednesday on the Raleigh-based David Glenn Show when he said “I don’t remember a thing about it,” which he repeated when pressed by Glenn and then again by UNC beat reporters after practice.

First off, Fedora’s stubborn insistence that he didn’t remember is patently ridiculous because it’s certainly false. Second, it’s just not very savvy to create a storyline when it would be much easier to say something like, “Man, we got it handed to us that day and weren’t real good but fortunately we battled back that year to get to a bowl game and learned a lot about adversity, which paid off the next year when we won the division.”

Instead, Fedora has another ECU loss to forget, which pushes North Carolina to the top of the Misery Index, a weekly measurement of knee-jerk reactions based on what each fan base just watched.

FOUR MORE IN MISERY

Arizona: If you watched quarterback Khalil Tate last year, it didn’t seem anyone could stop him. Who’d have thought Noel Mazzone would be the one who could finally slow him down? Kevin Sumlin brought Mazzone with him from Texas A&M, but it’s clear his offense just doesn’t utilize Tate’s strengths whatsoever. The Wildcats are 0-2 after an embarrassing 45-18 loss at Houston, and while many of the problems may fall on how poorly Rich Rodriguez recruited the last couple years, there’s no excuse for trying to turn Tate into a guy who hands off and throws a bunch of screen passes. Though he finished with 341 yards, a quarterback who had 1,411 rushing yards last season shouldn’t ever be throwing 45 times while clocking just seven rushing attempts.

Georgia Tech: Paul Johnson has had a very good tenure at Georgia Tech. It’s not an easy place to win; yet, the highs have been incredibly high including four ACC title game appearances. But the lows are getting low lately. A losing season in 2015, a losing season in 2017 and a penchant for coming up short in close games. Saturday’s 49-38 loss to South Florida continues a recent trend in which the Yellow Jackets could have landed a knockout punch but instead let self-inflicted wounds lead to defeat. Just like the season opener against Tennessee in 2017, Georgia Tech was on the doorstep Saturday of a fourth quarter touchdown to effectively put the game out of reach. Instead, Qua Searcy fumbled at the 12-yard line with 7:47 to go, dooming a game in which Georgia Tech had 602 yards of offense. Johnson is 2-6 in his last eight against FBS opponents.

Kansas State: For a team that was hyped in the preseason as a potential Big 12 darkhorse, the Wildcats have instead looked like a team that really misses longtime offensive coordinator Dana Dimel, who became the head coach at UTEP last winter. A 31-10 loss at home to Mississippi State was the opposite kind of performance from what Bill Snyder’s teams have become known for over the years. Instead of finding a way to ugly up the game and give themselves a chance, the Wildcats got flat-out dominated, getting out-gained 538-213 and completing just nine passes. The mystique around K-State is now gone, and with Snyder turning 79 next month, you wonder if it’s coming back.

Florida State: The only way you could have a worse high-profile coaching debut than Willie Taggart would be if the Seminoles had actually lost to Samford. Instead, they had to pull a 36-26 victory out of their rear ends, only taking the lead with 4:04 remaining. Indeed, after getting embarrassed at home by Virginia Tech in the opener, Florida State was very much in danger of losing this game. Even at the end, they had to stop yet another Samford drive with a fourth interception of Devlin Hodges, who had torched them for 475 passing yards. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Seminoles couldn't even celebrate those interceptions properly because they unveiled their turnover gimmick and it, uh, wasn’t impressive. Whereas Miami has a diamond-crusted turnover chain, Florida State has… a red backpack. No, Willie. Just no. Not since last season when Tennessee held up a trash can on the sideline has a team been made fun of this relentlessly. Get rid of it. Now.

TRENDING TOWARD MISERY

Florida: The Gators’ fan base is arguably the most effete in college football. There’s just no passion for anything other than greatness, and hiring Dan Mullen didn’t exactly set them on fire. Mullen may be great in the long run, but the full extent of the damage sustained from the Jim McElwain era was realized Saturday night when the Gators’ 31-game winning streak against Kentucky came to an end in Gainesville. It will be hard for Florida fans to overcome the apathy of knowing in early September that the Gators are going to be bland and below-average yet again.

USC: Athletics director Lynn Swann didn’t hire Clay Helton. He would not have hired Clay Helton. But he kept Helton after last season's Pac 12 championship because, well, what else was he going to do? Still, that tension is always going to be there. And after a 17-3 loss at Stanford in which the Trojans were minus-3 on turnovers, you have to wonder how patient the notoriously demanding USC fans will be. You’re either elite or you're not at USC, and nothing says “not elite” like scoring three points (even with a freshman quarterback in J.T. Daniels) in a conference game.

Temple: This has been nothing short of a disastrous start with losses to Villanova and Buffalo. And this is a particularly tenuous time for such a slide. Temple is trying to build momentum behind an on-campus stadium project that has been beset by local opposition. Second-year coach Geoff Collins does all the right things in terms of marketing the program and generating social media excitement, but that’s hard to sustain if you’re losing to FCS and traditionally average Mid-American Conference teams.

Purdue: The Jeff Brohm bandwagon has emptied out a bit lately. He’s still got media darling status for now, but losing 20-19 to Eastern Michigan to start the year 0-2 (both at home) definitely dampens the enthusiasm after a feel-good 7-6 debut. Perhaps it’s not breaking news that despite his coaching talent, it’s hard to win at Purdue.

South Carolina: The Gamecocks spent a good portion of this offseason talking themselves into the idea that they were closing the gap with SEC East rival Georgia and that getting a somewhat new-look Bulldogs team at home in Week 2 would be Will Muschamp’s big breakthrough opportunity. That fantasy was dispelled quickly as Georgia went up 14-0 early and rolled to a 41-17 win that made the talent differential between the two very clear.

TOTALLY REAL AND IRRATIONAL MESSAGE BOARD THREADS

“Mack Brown as Interim Coach” - InsideCarolina.com

“This is the worst FSU team I’ve ever seen” - warchant.com (Florida State)

“Who are we hiring for HC next year?” - stingtalk.com (Georgia Tech)

“I am not a fire coach guy. But smiling at the presser???” - wearesc.com (USC)

“Too late to call Lane Kiffin?” - hogville.net (Arkansas)