Grading Charlotte 49ers’ opener: How did new QB Max Brown, retooled offense manage?

College football kicked off in the Queen City on Saturday night, and a tail of two halves spoiled a sold-out season opener for the Charlotte 49ers, falling to James Madison 30-7.

Hosting the Dukes under the lights, Biff Poggi’s 49ers had their first chance to display their offseason progression, led by new quarterback Max Brown. Trailing much of the game, Charlotte’s offense was lifeless after the second quarter and James Madison’s 27-unanswered points slammed the door on what was a raucous, sold-out crowd — for at least the first half.

For much of the 15,614 in attendance, and those tuning in on ESPNU, Saturday night was a familiar feeling. But not for Biff Poggi.

“I was encouraged by so much of what we did,” Poggi said postgame. “If you sat in that stadium and watched that game and you don’t this is a significantly better team than last year, then you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The last time Charlotte played at home, the 49ers totaled just seven points in a double-digit loss. If you squint your eyes just enough, Saturday night’s season opener wasn’t far off. The defense played well enough to win the game, despite allowing several chunk plays that brought the once-roaring Richardson Stadium to a dim hum. The offense, yet again, looked completely unprepared.

There was hope early in the action, when Charlotte took a four-point lead commanding their only points of the evening. Max Brown had tossed his first touchdown in green and gold and the defense was taking the ball away nearly every possession.

Then halftime came, and it fell apart. Following Brown’s lone touchdown, Charlotte turned the ball over four times and punted three times, crumbling in the game’s final minutes and letting what was a close game slip to a blowout loss.

Here is a look at how the 49ers graded out against the Dukes:

49ers’ rushing offense

The biggest ‘what-if’ of Saturday night was Terron Kellman’s 41-yard run, with Charlotte backed up on its own goal line. Kellman, who looked to have the breakaway speed to pull Charlotte within one score, and possibly break the program record for longest run, was shoelace tackled to shut the door on Charlotte’s comeback attempt. Three plays later, Charlotte was punting again and James Madison had taken full control.

The 49ers would go on to abandon the run in the second half, handing it off just eight times. Kellman led the way with nine carries for 76 yards and Hahsaun Wilson added 35 yards on five carries.

Michigan transfer CJ Stokes, who hasn’t practiced much during the preseason with a leg injury, warmed up ahead of the game but didn’t see action. Poggi is hopeful the redshirt sophomore will be available as soon as next week.

Wilson and Kellman were effective early in the contest, but weren’t involved at all in the screen game, even while trailing. Charlotte rushed for 131 total yards, with Brown adding scrambles for 12 yards. Wowing the crowd in the first quarter with a 20-yard scamper when the pocket broke down, Brown showed he could use his legs. After that, James Madison kept Brown in check and Charlotte didn’t open the playbook with any designed runs to get their best playmaker in space.

Grade: C

49ers’ passing offense

It was clear that Charlotte’s plan was to attack the short and intermediate portions of the field from the jump, and the 49ers just couldn’t accrue enough big plays to hang with the Dukes.

Charlotte, who averaged 5.5 explosive plays (gains of 15 yards or more) a season ago, amounted nine total on Saturday night, with four coming through the air — and all but one in the second quarter.

Brown completed 22 of his 45 passes for 193 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Brown’s first turnover was an errant pass, where it seemed he was throwing the ball away, but couldn’t get enough power behind it to get it to the sideline. His second was a tip-drill interception, off the hands of wideout Sean Brown and into another short field for Charlotte’s defense.

The Brown to Brown connection was most of Charlotte’s offense, targeting the 6-foot-4 wideout 12 times for six catches and 70 yards. Of Max’s 22 completions, 20 of them came within 14 yards of the line of scrimmage. Charlotte was running curls for what seemed like the entire game, and it was working in spurts, but then a penalty (6 for 44 yards) or a turnover (three total) would cut the 49ers’ drive short.

Independence CC (Kansas) transfer Isaiah Myers flashed for Charlotte, reeling in his first Division I touchdown, and breaking multiple tackles while he did it. Brown targeted Myers six times, resulting in two catches for 45 yards. Myers is Charlotte’s best deep threat, and the 49ers need to find ways to get him in single coverage.

Brown looked down the field 13 times, completing just two passes. South Carolina transfer O’Mega Blake, who’s been one of Charlotte’s best receivers during camp, had just one target. And Jairus Mack, who led Charlotte’s team with 453 yards a season ago, was a no show in the box score.

Much like last season, Charlotte’s offense again lacked creativity. The 49ers must find ways to get their best players in open space. There was one screen the entire night, once the game was out of reach. No real deep shots, and no real consistency outside of the second quarter. Changing the tempo seemed to generate success early in the action, but even with winning the time of possession battle by over three minutes and running 16 more plays than the Dukes, Charlotte was outgained by 93 yards.

Grade: D-

49ers’ rushing defense

As far as containing the Dukes’ tailbacks, Charlotte’s front seven was elite. After rushing for more than 1,000 yards at over seven yards a clip a season ago, JMU running back Ayo Adeyi was held in check most of the night, rushing 17 times for 41 yards and a touchdown. Charlotte stuffed 29% of James Madison’s rush attempts, recording 10 tackles for loss, led by Stone Handy with two.

But containing the quarterback was another issue. Alonza Barnett III combined for 308 yards, with 89 of those coming on the ground, averaging 9.9 yards per carry. It was in untimely moments that Barnett broke free, and it wore down Charlotte’s defense, especially in the second half. James Madison didn’t name a starting quarterback, with Washington transfer Dylan Morris, more of the pro-style pocket passer, not seeing the field. Barnett’s downfield accuracy and ability to make off-schedule plays with his legs not only extended drives for the Dukes, but took the life out of Richardson Stadium with the highlight-reel deep balls.

The first five drives of the game, Charlotte’s defense looked even better than a season ago, even with the offense continuing to put them in bad spots. Handy was blowing up plays, Miami transfer Chantz Williams was getting after the quarterback, Gardner-Webb transfer Charlie Jackson was controlling A-gap and Mike Kelly-Lawson was getting his hands in passing lanes and batting balls.

Charlotte allowed 198 yards on the ground and was devastated by big gains, allowing 10 chunk plays for 318 yards. For reference, JMU moved the ball for 417 total yards. The Dukes’ yards came in bunches, most splitting evenly at six on the ground and six through the air.

Grade: B+

49ers’ passing defense

Two red zone stands, a forced fumble by Williams and a Dontae Balfour interception in the first 30 minutes of action had Charlotte feeling optimistic at the halftime break. What was an ugly half of football saw the 49ers trailing by just two at the intermission, but the team that returned for the final two quarters was completely different, according to Poggi.

The biggest blunder of the game followed the halftime break, with Charlotte failing to put the right defensive package on the field and burning a timeout without a second running off the clock in the third quarter.

“We didn’t communicate what defensive package we were going to be in and we had the wrong personnel on the field. It’s inexcusable, really,” Poggi said. “We came out of halftime fairly lethargic, and I don’t know what that was about.”

Two plays later, JMU was up double digits after a 73-yard bomb from Barnett to Omarion Dollison, who beat Charlotte corner Elijah Culp in a foot race.

The big plays, combined with the offense generating just seven points and surrendering six total turnovers (three on downs) was too much for Ryan Osborn’s defense. Barnett completed just 10 total passes, but gains of 33, 43 and 73 yards gashed Charlotte’s chances of victory. The redshirt sophomore quarterback averaged 21.9 yards per completion and connected on 75% of his deep ball attempts.

On paper, Charlotte’s secondary is much better, and deeper, than a season ago. But Charlotte will need the pass rush to get home, especially in the second half, to keep opposing offenses at bay.

Grade: C

49ers’ special teams

Although Charlotte’s special teams’ blunders didn’t result in points for James Madison, it was a rough start for the 49ers’ specialists.

Michigan State transfer Michael O’Shaughnessy started his Charlotte tenure with a three-yard punt. Yes, that says three yards. It wasn’t blocked or altered by the defense; it was just a shank. One that set the Dukes up on Charlotte’s 25-yard line, but the 49ers’ defense would hold for a goal line stand. O’Shaughnessy would finish the game strong, punting two 50-yard bombs, with a long of 62 yards.

The second mistake was a mental error by Colorado transfer Adam Hopkins IV, who didn’t attempt to block James Madison’s punt, but instead ran directly into the punter resulting in a first down.

The lonely bright spot was preseason all-conference kick returner Henry Rutledge. The redshirt junior ranked 24th in the nation a season ago with 23.35 kick return yards per attempt and added to his total Saturday night, averaging 29 yards per return with a long of 37.

Rutledge is clearly Charlotte’s most explosive player, and it’s very curious as to why the 49ers rarely utilize him on offense.

Grade: D

Overall

If you didn’t watch the game and just checked the box score, this looks like a blowout loss, with JMU leaving Charlotte as the clear-cut better team. The talent gap was not evident on the field, but the coaching gap was — especially in the final 30 minutes of action.

Despite the defense making timely plays early to give the 49ers’ offense a chance to settle in, Mike Miller’s group was lifeless for much of evening.

It isn’t getting any easier next week with a road trip to Chapel Hill to take on the Tar Heels. But Poggi and the 49ers must prioritize finding what works for Brown in the passing game and hope to get healthy on the offensive line ahead of league play. The talent level on the 2024 edition of Poggi’s team is improved from last season, but Charlotte’s gameplan execution has to be better moving forward.

Grade: D+