Photo credit: Ryan Amstutz, Charlotte Athletics
The stands were packed, and Charlotte students had Jerry Richardson Stadium rocking. A familiar scene for Charlotte Football, even with the lack of success at home over the past 3+ seasons where they've only won 5 games (2 vs FCS teams). The Tarheels scored on their third play of the game and never looked back, though Charlotte's defense did rally and kept the Niners in it. The offense continued to sputter, but the self-inflicted penalties were cleaned up from the opener.
Quick thoughts
Nate Faanes defensive unit stepped up, after yielding almost 600 yards to App State, the Niners give up just 303 to the Tarheels, and in doing so drastically cut down on the number of explosive plays allowed. That's a great sign for future contests, though the Charlotte netted zero sacks in game 2, which is my biggest area of concern moving forward on defense.
Charlotte's special teams again played pretty well, with the only blemish being the missed FG attempt. I still think the FG there was fine, you needed points, realistically looking anything to create positive momentum and kickstart the offense. I thought Connor Harrell improved, but clearly the offense has to produce once inside the 20. Charlotte had 4 or 5 solid drives, but you have to put 7 on the board at some point, and that should have been on the dropped pass in the endzone, can't fault Harrell on that one.
Monmouth comes to Jerry RichardSon Stadium
Charlotte has a knack for scheduling teams that turn out to be good, its amazing how it turns out. In this case, Monmouth (FCS) is ranked 20th in this weeks Stats Perform FCS Top 25 poll and 18th in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll. The Hawks come to the 704 looking for the programs second ever FBS win, after last years win in Miami over FIU (45-42). Monmount has won 2 road contests to start the season, Colgate (42-39) and Fordham (49-28). They are led by reigining CAA Offensive Player of the Week, QB Derek Robertson. He leads all FCS with 855 passing yards and 10 touchdowns. That said, he's also thrown 5 interceptions so far, so the seconday needs to be ready to capitalize on his mistakes. The Hawks OL has only allowed 2 sacks on 89 pass attempts, and the Niners have just 1 sack through their first two games. Charlotte must find a way to create havoc in the backfield.
As touched on early, Charlotte has to find points. Throught two games Charlotte has been unable to find any traction on the ground, that not sustainable with Harrell at QB. He's a running QB and outside of a couple plays, he's not leverage his legs to make the defense honor his abilities. If Charlotte's runningback's continue to struggle, he must open things up with his legs, or I fear Charlotte's offense will continue to struggle. In today's game, you have to score to be good. The days of relying on a stout defense and average offense are long gone.
If Charlotte wants to flip the script, this game and the next game with Rice at home are their chances. After that, its on the road at South Florida and Army. Realistically at this juncture, 3-3 would be a huge leap from an 0-2 start, and it starts tomorrow. See you all at Jerry Richardson Stadium!
If you are looking for more info leading up to this one, you can check out the links below for more background on both squads:
Tim Albin weekly press conference | Game preview via Charlotte | Game preview via Monmouth
