Charlotte falls again on the road, what do the numbers show us?

In my pregame piece, which can be found here, I talked about my 3 keys to the game. Let's assess how Charlotte did against them.

KEY 1

Can Charlotte really get the ground game going?

Charlotte is taking it on the road for the 2nd time, the first trip to ATL was a brutal offensive showing. CLT posted a 51.3 overall offensively, by far their worst on teh season. SEems that rain could be a factor tomorrow as well. As a team Illinois is 94th in the country in run defense with a 64.7 grade.

Assessment: Charlotte actually posted it's 2nd highest run blocking grade of the season at 72.9, however the output was lacking as the Niners carried it 27 times for only 81 yards. For the season now Charlotte is 82nd in the country in Run Blocking Grade at 61.6. While we can't simply abandon the run, it seems this teams makeup lends itself more to an aerial attack.

KEY 2

Illinois is 26th overall in run grade

That noise you just heard was me, and likely yourself, gulping. Simply put Charlotte has been gashed on the ground and has the 122nd overall run defense grade (out of 130...). Doesn't take much to see how important this phase of the game will be. Almost have to expect (hope?) CLT goes all in on stopping the run and hope the secondary can make enough plays to keep us in it.

Assessment: Gulping intensified throughout the game. The secondary didn't really have the opportunity to make many plays as the Illini only put it in the air 19 times, completing 10 for only 78 yards. They simply didn't have to pass, as they decimated Charlotte on the ground to the tune of 334 yards on 50 carries. That's a whopping 6.7 yards per carry. Chase Brown went for 257 and 2 TDs on 26 carries (9.9ypc!).

KEY 3

Bend but don't break

This has seemingly been the defensive philosophy so far: bend but don't break, and make opportunistic plays. Illini QB's are completing 53.1% of passes on the season and have been sacked 14 times. If we can find away to put Illinois in passing situations, you have to feel good (if we can about the defense) about getting off the field.

Assessment: The defense stuck to the bend don't break approach in the first half, forcing a fumble and punt on 2 of the 4 Illini drives (not counting the 2 play drive at end of the half). The levy broke in the 2nd half they scored on 3 of their 4 drives, the last drive ultimately burned the final 6:43 off the game clock, as they ran the ball every time on the 13 play, 51 yard drive (last 2 snaps were in the victory formation).

Charlotte top graded players

Offense

78

Overall grade: 64.5
Snap count: 51
Pass block grade: 68.0
Run block grade: 66.7

DEfense

22

Overall grade: 69.1
Snap count: 27
Run defense: 70.7
Tackling: 77.8
Coverage: 64.4

Illinois top graded players

Offensive

1

Overall grade: 71.1
Snap count: 35
Pass grade: 70.6
Run Block grade: 60.6

Defense

99

Overall grade: 71.7
Snap count: 42
Run Defense: 70.2
Tackling: 74.6
Pass Rush: 65.9

Charlotte team grades on the season

Overall: 101st (73.0) - 95th (75.1) coming into this game
Offense: 55th (75.2) - 52nd (74.0)
Defense: 123rd (54.5) - 116th (58.3)
Special Teams: 30th 84.4 - 30th (82.8)

 DEFENSIVE breakdown

Run: 126th (44.1) - 116th (52.3)
Tackling: 103rd (54.7) - 100th (55.6)
Pass Rush: 122 (61.4) - 103rd (66.6)
Coverage: 75 (67.8) - 106th (58.5)