How Charlotte football can rebound from slow start as 49ers prep for conference play
Despite dropping their third consecutive game to close non-conference play, the Charlotte 49ers have a renewed sense of confidence following a 22-7 loss at Florida on Saturday night.
Charlotte’s defense has the talent to keep the 49ers in games, but coach Biff Poggi’s team desperately needs the offense to find its footing with American Athletic Conference play starting on the road against SMU on Saturday.
Poggi was disappointed by the loss to the Gators but pleased with both his players and staff battling through four quarters of an extremely physical game against an SEC program.
“Obviously we (went) to Gainesville to win. We didn’t win, but I’m really proud of our players and coaches. We’re going to keep getting better. The first part of our season is now over, and now we get into the most important part of our season which is the American Conference.
“We have to just stop making mistakes, which we will,” Poggi continued. “It’s a brand-new football team. There are 70 new players. We’ve played four games. We’re getting better every week. I love the kids. I love the coaches. I love the team. With that said, we don’t want to be a team that loses football teams. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
A 1-3 start to the season wasn’t the start that Poggi and the 49ers expected, and rebounding in conference play will be key for Poggi’s success, or lack thereof, in the coach’s first season.
With the non-conference schedule and a third of the season behind the 49ers, let’s take a look at where Charlotte stands entering AAC play.
Defensive consistency a must
Charlotte’s defense has shown glimpses of being special, holding Maryland out of the end zone for the entire first half in College Park and keeping Florida within striking distance in front of nearly 90,000 fans at the Swamp. But it’s lapses of average that edge linebacker Eyabi Okie-Anoma is looking to break.
After allowing 586 yards and 41 points to an undefeated Georgia State team, Charlotte’s defense rebounded against Florida. The 49ers held the Gators under 400 yards of total offense, forced two fumbles, got after quarterback Graham Mertz with three sacks and held up in the red zone, allowing just one touchdown and five field goals.
“It’s just about consistency. It’s about applying pressure and not letting up,” Okie-Anoma said. “A lot of the guys feel a way about Georgia State and Maryland games. We’ve been really thinking about the things that we could’ve done better. With coaches like Coach Osborn, Coach Jacobson and Coach Poggi, the sky is the limit. Rome wasn’t built in a day. We’ll get better.”
This might be the deepest defense that the program has seen, and with eight AAC games left on the schedule, the 49ers will continue to rely on the bend-but-don’t-break mentality that defensive coordinator Ryan Osborn has instilled.
Charlotte has its cornerstones of the defense in Okie-Anoma and linebackers Demetrius Knight and Prince Bemah, as well as the emergence of linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green and true freshman safety Kameron Howard, who leads the team with two interceptions.
The strength of the unit is the run defense, allowing 147.5 yards per game, which is 88th in the nation and seventh in the AAC. Despite losing DT Jalar Holley for the season and being without Jackson State transfer Katron Evans due to eligibility issues, Charlotte’s interior defensive linemen have answered the bell with the emergence of Miguel Jackson and Maryland transfer Austin Fontaine.
Okie-Anoma expects Charlotte’s defense to keep the 49ers competitive, regardless of the offensive output.
“When you can’t get any kind of points put up, and you keep stopping them — it’s unfortunate. But it’s football,” Okie-Anoma said. “You live and learn. I love this team. One thing I’ll say about this team is we’re fighters. We play for our coach.
“I don’t want to overpromise things, but as the year goes on, we’re going to keep getting better and better. Y’all see what happens when the defense plays lights out all four quarters,” Okie-Anoma continued. “That’s what y’all can look forward to seeing.”
Struggles on third down
On the other side of the ball, Charlotte’s offense is still looking for an identity.
Offensive coordinator Mike Miller’s unit is yet to break 20-points on its own this season, and third downs have been a repetitive drive-killer for the 49ers. Charlotte ranks dead last in the nation on third down, converting just 24% of its attempts.
Charlotte’s average third-down distance is 8.72 yards. For reference, the 49ers’ opponent’s third-down distance is 5.9 yards. In a game of inches, nearly 3 yards difference on third down can make or break you, especially with uncertainty at quarterback.
The two-quarterback system seems to favor senior quarterback Jalon Jones heading into AAC play, and Miller found success with speed options, designed quarterback runs and the screen game against Florida. Jones was yet again Charlotte’s leading rusher on Saturday night, notching the third time through four games. Jones has rushed for 262 yards on 4.9 yards per carry, accounting for three touchdowns and Charlotte’s lone touchdown against the Gators.
The screen game has been Charlotte’s best remedy to the two-quarterback system struggles. Whether it’s finding tight ends Colin Weber and Bryce Kennon or a back out of the backfield, the 49ers have been efficient at and behind the line of scrimmage and must build on that to open up the offense.
Walk-on Trexler Ivey has completed 81.6% of his passes that travel less than 10 yards, and Jones has completed 81.2%, including a perfect completion percentage on passes thrown around the line of scrimmage. The issue is pushing the ball down the field, where Jones has completed just one pass of 20 or more air yards on the season.
After playing the lion’s share of the snaps against Georgia State, Ivey played just three drives (12 snaps) against the Gators, with Jones returning in the second quarter and scoring Charlotte’s only touchdown.
Poggi elected to stick with Jones the rest of the way but didn’t name a permanent starter moving forward.
Charlotte must find consistency, and whether Miller will change tempos to spark the offense is yet to be seen. Charlotte’s offense is running just over 60 plays per game, moving at one of the slowest tempos in the nation, ranking 114th .
Running backs Durell Robinson and Terron Kellman didn’t make the trip to Florida as they’re both nursing injuries, but Poggi expects them to be ready for conference play.
Favorable AAC schedule
Athletic director Mike Hill’s philosophy is that Charlotte will play two Power 5 programs in the non-conference every year, scheduling multiple trips to some of college football’s biggest stages in the coming years, as well as home-and-homes with local programs and the occasional SEC team. This means that Charlotte will take its lumps in the non-conference, but there are huge opportunities to play nationally televised games against notable programs, where Charlotte intends to build on its first Power 5 victory against Duke in 2021.
While the AAC is a step up from Conference USA, Charlotte has a favorable conference slate in its first season, with the 49ers’ remaining opponents posting a combined 14-17 record through four weeks. The 49ers also avoid both the defending AAC and C-USA champions this season — Tulane and UTSA, respectively.
How Charlotte fares against a good SMU (2-2) team will give an indication of expectations moving forward, and Poggi will have an extra week of preparation with a bye week in between a homecoming matchup against Navy (1-2) on October 14.
Poggi knows that Charlotte is close to being the team they expected to be to start the season.
“We’re just looking to put a complete game together. I think we have a chance to be a really good football team if we do. We’re just learning how to play together,” Poggi said. “The way we look at the season is the non-conference schedule, then there’s a hard stop after Florida. You’ve got to work all of this stuff out in those first four games because the rest of the way, they all count.”