Schedule remains tough for Charlotte 49ers: First Appalachian State, now it’s UNC
It’s never too early to start thinking about your next opponent, as Charlotte 49ers coach Will Healy was reminded Saturday, just a few moments after his team had lost its season opener 35-20 to Appalachian State.
As Healy’s postgame news conference wound down, he was asked about playing at No. 12 North Carolina next Saturday, the first time the two programs have met in football.
“In my opinion, they’re maybe the hottest team in the country right now,” Healy said of the Tar Heels, who won their season opener 31-6 against Syracuse on Saturday. “They have as much momentum as any team in college football.”
Then Healy paused and remembered what had just happened against the Mountaineers (who almost certainly will be ranked this week when the new polls come out).
“But we’ve got a long way to go in our own building before we even worry about how talented North Carolina is,” Healy said.. “We need to have a pretty good look in the mirror on Monday, fix some things in-house.”
The 49ers were unable to beat App State despite the Mountaineers’ propensity for costly mistakes. They committed seven penalties for 65 yards, some of them keeping touchdown drives alive for Charlotte. App State also had three fumbles, leading to 10 Charlotte points.
But ultimately the Mountaineers -- ranked 24th this week -- were able to wear down the 49ers, who had cut the score to 21-20 late in the third quarter when Aaron McAllister returned a kickoff a program-record 97 yards for a touchdown. After the Mountaineers scored again to make it 28-20, the 49ers had a chance to close the gap again when Camerun Peoples fumbled at the Charlotte 20 with 6:24 left.
The 49ers picked up nothing on their first three plays and, rather than have Cruz kick a 37-yard field goal that would have cut to lead to five points, Healy elected to go for it on fourth-and-10. A pass over the middle from Chris Reynolds to Cameron Dollar was batted down.
“We had a good play call,” Healy said. “So I thought, worst-case scenario, I’m getting two shots. I had 100% confidence in Cruz, I just felt like better things could happen for us if we went for it and tried to tie that thing up and be aggressive — versus passive and run the risk of getting beat by 11 instead of 15.”
App State was brutally efficient with its running game, rolling up 308 yards behind Marcus Williams (117 yards and a touchdown), Camerun Peoples (102 yards and a touchdown) and Daetrich Harrington (60 yards, two touchdowns).
Efficient, maybe, but Mountaineers first-year coach Shawn Clark was more comfortable comparing his team’s running attack to baking bread.
“In our game, you have the outside zone and the inside zone,” Clark said. “And it’s kind of like making bread. You have to start caressing it a little bit, rubbing it here, rubbing it there, put it in there, let it rise. And that’s the beauty of it. We never got impatient with it. We just had that bread, kind of rubbed it a little bit here and there and it rose right to the top.”
There were bright spots for the 49ers, though.
Linebacker Tyler Murray, a transfer from Troy, had 14 tackles (one for a loss), an interception, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble. That wasn’t too surprising, since Murray had played well against App State before. 49ers coaches were sold on Murray after he decided to transfer when they watched video of him in a Trojans game against the Mountaineers in 2018 (he had eight tackles).
Special teams, a source of so many problems for Charlotte last season (including in a 56-41 loss against the Mountaineers), helped keep the 49ers in Saturday’s game. In addition to McAllister’s kickoff return, Jonathan Cruz made both his field-goal attempts (including one of 49 yards), and defensive tackle Damon Weldon blocked a field-goal attempt at the end of the first half.
Grad transfer running back Tre Harbison, brought in to help replace Benny LeMay (who’s on the Cleveland Browns practice squad), picked up 87 yards on l7 carries and scored a touchdown. Harbison only had 3 yards in the second half, though.
Charlotte has historically not thrown much to its tight ends, but true freshman Taylor Thompson caught two passes for 62 yards, including one that went for 41 yards.
49ers quarterback Chris Reynolds (11 for 30, 140 yards, two interceptions, 34 yards rushing) was held in check, at least in comparison to last season’s game against the Mountaineers, when he threw for 296 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 35 yards.
“The defense did a tremendous job today,” Clark said. “That quarterback is very tough to handle. You saw today, he made some plays with his feet. We had him in the pocket and he scrambles out and makes plays. But hat’s off to our defense.”
This story was originally published September 13, 2020 at 2:27 PM.