Charlotte football’s season is on the line. 49ers return home following unprecedented break
Charlotte football is focusing on one game at a time.
Three matchups remain on the schedule, and the 49ers will need to win all of them to have a shot at being selected for a bowl game. Charlotte’s remaining opponents have a combined record of 8-19 entering this weekend, with half of those wins coming from Saturday’s adversary: South Florida.
While the Niners (3-6, 2-3 American Athletic Conference) have dropped their past three games, they head into Saturday following a 16-day break since their last game. It marks the longest layoff between regular-season contests, outside 2020, in program history.
But before Charlotte can get to its games against Florida Atlantic and Alabama Birmingham — both of which own records of 2-7, respectively — it faces a respectable Bulls (4-5, 2-3 American) team that is also chasing a bowl invitation down the stretch.
“The goal is to win this game,” head coach Biff Poggi said. “That’s the goal. We’re not talking about bowl games or winning out. This is the most important game, because it’s the next game. And that’s how we’re talking about it.”
‘It’s just time to really step up’
Charlotte has been having strong practices this week.
The team is healthy, Poggi explained at Tuesday’s weekly news conference, and their toughness has been showing, especially at this crucial point in the season. He doesn’t let players come off the field with a bad practice, and he’s not afraid to extend it for hours if something doesn’t look right.
“We always want to win,” defensive lineman Dre Butler said. “We focus on one game at a time. We can’t really look too far ahead, obviously we do want to make a bowl game — that’s one of our priorities — but we gotta focus on USF.”
Players have been focusing on what each position group has to do, and practices have been more physical and aggressive.
Said running back Henry Rutledge: “It’s just time to really step up.”
Poggi: No decision on starting QB
The head coach said he’ll determine his starting quarterback by Thursday.
It continues to be a competition between Max Brown and Deshawn Purdie, neither of whom particularly pleased Poggi when Tulane shellacked the Niners in their last game.
Purdie started and converted 5-of-12 attempts for 66 passing yards before being replaced in the second half by Brown, who completed just two passes for a total of three yards on 10 throws.
“I don’t think either one of them played very well the last game,” Poggi said. “It’s a competition. Both kids have played well, I’ll know that on Thursday, but I was not pleased with either one of them last game, that’s for sure.”
