CHARLOTTE — With last weekend’s season-opening loss to James Madison in the rearview, the Charlotte 49ers football team is hoping to beat the odds as it heads to Chapel Hill for its first-ever matchup with North Carolina.
Kickoff for the matchup between the Niners (0-1) and Tar Heels (1-0) inside Kenan Stadium is set for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday; Charlotte is currently a 22.5-point underdog in the contest.
For the Niners, this weekend’s contest marks the first of three games this season against in-state schools, joining Gardner-Webb (Sept. 14) and East Carolina (Oct. 5).
The 49ers are looking to rebound after a tough 30-7 home loss to the Dukes, while UNC is soldiering on after a 19-17 road win at Minnesota where starting quarterback Max Johnson suffered a season-ending broken leg in the third quarter.
On Monday, UNC coach Mack Brown confirmed that the Heels are moving forward with third-year sophomore quarterback Conner Harrell at the helm of their offense.
Harrell made an impact in his team’s two-point win over the Gophers, contributing a key 32-yard pass that set up the winning 45-yard kick from Noah Burnette, who had four field goals in the game.
“He’s just got to get confidence and go,” Brown said. “It’s his. It’s his.”
Meanwhile, Charlotte is trying to duplicate the on-field effort it showed in the first half of its season opener, where redshirt sophomore quarterback Max Brown connected with wide receiver Isaiah Myers for a 26-yard touchdown pass to make it a brief 7-3 lead for the Niners.
Everything changed when a one-minute, 33-second stretch to end the second quarter and start the third soon led to a nine-point lead for JMU and a runaway 23-point victory for the road team.
After the game, second-year Charlotte coach Biff Poggi indicated that he saw positives in his team’s performance despite the lopsided results of the second half.
“It’s interesting, because I’m not disappointed. There were so many things they did so well that we didn’t see last year. Like I said to them at halftime, that was one of the worst halves of football you can play, and we’re down two points,” Poggi said. “It’s hard to have three red-zone stops and we had three in the first half. To get those, you gamble a little bit. The house always wins in gambling, when you have to go to the well too many times, you end up getting hurt.”
In his first regular-season game as a 49er, Brown attempted 45 passes for Charlotte, completing 22 with two interceptions for 193 yards, while starting running back Terron Kellman had 76 yards on nine carries.
“I take a lot of the responsibility for that loss on myself,” Brown said. “I can’t turn the ball over, usually when you lose the turnover margin, you lose the game. I have to understand the importance of taking care of the ball. It’s understanding what you can do better going into next week and taking advantage of the week in practice and watching film.”
Coming off back-to-back 3-9 seasons, the Niners’ faithful home fans inside Richardson Stadium were crossing their fingers for a more promising start to the 2024 campaign than what they got.
“We were down two points going into the half, so even down two points going into the half — knowing that you played the way things shouldn’t have gone in the first half — it’s kind of promising,” Brown added. “You just have to be able to move past it and understand.”
Charlotte’s new quarterback did succeed in establishing a rapport with senior wideout Sean Brown, who notched a team-best 70 yards from six catches. While eight other players were targeted in the passing game, Brown was the only one to rack up over 45 receiving yards.
Facing the Tar Heels this weekend, Charlotte’s defense will be tasked with limiting UNC running back standout Omarion Hampton, who ran the ball 30 times for 129 total yards against Minnesota. The Niners allowed 198 rushing yards on Saturday, averaging out to nearly five yards per carry for the Dukes.
Despite the familiar optics that the season opener presented, Poggi remains confident — at least rhetorically — that his Niner team is on the up and up.
“If you sat in that stadium and you watched that game and you don’t think this is a significantly better team than last year, then you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” he said after the Week 1 game.
The validity of Poggi’s remarks will be tested in Chapel Hill this weekend, showcasing a rebuilt Charlotte team that is attempting to demonstrate a semblance of competitiveness on the field.
