Photo credit: Charlotte Athletics
Saturday was a hell of an experience, tailgate was a blast as always at the Normbulance, but the on-field product blew away all expectations any Niner faithful had going into things. Biff Poggi's crew was dominant from the opening possession, putting together the most complete performance in his tenure. The offense punished ECU on the ground, I'm not sure we've seen a Charlotte team run the ball at will like that before in an FBS game before. Given the second half performance at Rice, and the four quarters against ECU, it's starting to look like Charlotte has found their groove.
Takeaways
Mike Miller and his offense have often been lamented in his time here, but he deserves credit for Saturday. His offense amassed 517 yards, with 300+ of those coming via the ground, at a 6 yards per carry average.
Hahsaun Wilson and Cartevious Norton talked about their performance and that "they started giving up", check out the video posted by Hunter Bailey for more. The ships were burnt, and the white flags were waived.
Not surprisingly, this was Charlotte's highest graded out offensive game per PFF. What did catch my eye, Charlotte's OL graded out similarly to how they had all season long, something to monitor.
Charlotte running backs Hahsaun Wilson & Cartevious Nortonon the 49ers imposing their will on ECU w/ 307 yards. Good Q from @JeremyGrandiso1.
— Hunter Bailey (@Hunter_Bailey45) October 6, 2024
“They started giving up.”
“Sometimes you just see it in their face, they don’t want to be there anymore.”
“That’s when it becomes fun.” pic.twitter.com/hC4IVCGPus
Charlotte possessed the ball for just over 40 minutes in this one, a great way to keep the defense fresh. That recipe will be useful, if it can be duplicated when Charlotte returns to the gridiron at Annapolis on October 19th versus Navy.
Speaking of keeping the defense fresh, those fresh legs allowed Charlotte to generate double-figure pressures for the second time this year in an FBS game (UNC-CH), a sack (Dippre, his first), and two interceptions (Elijah Culp, and a pick six from Stone Handy).
Recruiting impact
This won't be known immediately, but an emphatic win over ECU will almost certainly make an impact on trail. Charlotte had a full house of recruits at Jerry Richardson Stadium on Saturday afternoon, and the staff's lead hype man and Associate Head Coach, Tim Brewster is letting everyone know, the time is know.
RECRUITS! Thank you for your overwhelming interest in watching Charlotte Football this weekend! Unfortunately, we are completely out of our allotted recruit tickets for Saturday! Come see us on October 31st vs. Tulane! pic.twitter.com/rmOFv18Tds
— Coach Sean Lampkin (@Coach_Lampkin) October 2, 2024
Lots of recruits reaching out since Saturdays game…The Time Is Now to be A 49er!!!! 👀
— Tim Brewster (@TimBrewster) October 7, 2024
