Week 3 report card: Charlotte 49ers win first game of season but struggle vs. FCS team

Charlotte’s performance on Saturday night can be perceived in many ways, but one thing is for sure — winning feels good for Biff Poggi and the 49ers, even with nearly everything going wrong in a narrow 27-26 victory against FCS opponent Gardner-Webb.

Trexler Ivey saved Charlotte again, replacing an injured DeShawn Purdie late in the third quarter and engineering three touchdown drives in as many possessions to give Charlotte their first home victory in 378 days.

With 16,715 in attendance, the fourth-most in program history, Gardner-Webb dominated the line of scrimmage and all three facets of the game for three quarters. Everything changed when Ivey entered the fold, and Charlotte, motivated by Steve Wilks’ electrifying halftime speech, captured lighting in a bottle.

“When I walked in, Coach (Steve) Wilks was in the defensive meeting room and there were lightning bolts coming out of his eyes and fire out of his mouth,” Poggi said.

Trailing by eight with five minutes to play, Ivey lofted a picture-perfect deep ball to wideout Sean Brown, who fought through a pass interference penalty to reel in a Sports Center Top 10 nominee one-handed catch in the corner of the endzone.

The very next play, Al-Ma’hi Ali’s second interception of the game put Charlotte in position to take its first lead, and Hahsaun Wilson would waste no time putting the 49ers on top, scoring on a 39-yard scamper to put the 49ers ahead for good.

Gardner-Webb had a chance to win the game, attempting a two-point conversion following its lone rushing touchdown on the night from one yard out with 1:55 on the clock. Charlotte’s defense held when it mattered most, and despite being outcoached and outplayed for three quarters, the 49ers have their first win of the 2024 season.

Here’s how Charlotte graded out in its Week 3 game.

49ers’ rushing offense

Although sacks are included in the rushing total in college football, Charlotte’s 13 total rushing yards against an FCS opponent is inexcusable.

After rushing for just two yards per carry against North Carolina last week, Poggi said that Charlotte would explore short-pass options in the playbook to simulate a rushing attack. But dropping from an ACC school to an FCS level of competition, Charlotte had the size advantage up front against Gardner-Webb — the 49ers were just manhandled for three quarters.

With Terron Kellman missing Saturday night’s contest due to injury, Wilson led the 49ers with six carries for 52 yards, including the go-ahead score late in the action.

In one of the few games on the schedule where Charlotte could have flexed its muscle and established the run, the 49ers elected not to run the ball on the opening possession and gave true tailbacks just 17 opportunities on the night. Poggi told the media Charlotte would aid their true freshman quarterback ahead of the game, but completely disregarding a quarterback’s best friend played a clear role in Charlotte’s early struggles.

It was a brutal night for Purdie taking six sacks in three quarters, resulting in negative-79 rushing yards, ultimately offsetting Charlotte’s ground-game production. Even without the negative carries, Charlotte’s tailbacks rushed for 92 total yards — not enough to win against most teams in the country.

Grade: D-

49ers’ passing offense

Charlotte has seen some rough passing performances since all-time leader Chris Reynolds graduated in 2022, and Saturday night’s performance was another one of those for three quarters.

Albeit operating with a true freshman quarterback for much of the night, Charlotte’s passing attack was night and day when Ivey took charge. The redshirt junior completed 11 of his 12 passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns, finding South Carolina transfer O’Mega Blake and former walk-on Sean Brown on fourth-quarter scoring drives.

When asked if Ivey would lead the team moving forward, Poggi elected to stick with Purdie, pending injury, despite the turnovers.

“If Purdie’s healthy, we’ll go with Purdie. Trexler has a role as a reliever,” Poggi said with Ivey in the room. “We’ve got an exceptional young talent, and we’re going to ride with him until our starter Max (Brown) comes back.”

Poggi didn’t consider making the switch in favor of Ivey at the half.

“No, I didn’t want to crush a talented young player.”

But until Ivey took charge in the game’s final quarter, Charlotte couldn’t sustain, or finish drives. In Purdie’s first start, ball security was a clear issue, but the box score was much better than the on-field product. Purdie completed 16 of his 23 passes for 194 yards, with a long of 39 to Jairus Mack on an early-game strike.

The 6-foot-4 signal-caller fumbled three times in as many quarters, losing two, took a knee instead of spiking the ball ahead of the half, and tossed an interception directly to Gardner-Webb linebacker Trevor Moffitt, silencing the crowd at Richardson Stadium as Moffitt returned the pick for a touchdown.

In what felt like shades of the 2022 collapse against FCS opponent William & Mary, in which Charlotte started a freshman quarterback, Ivey was the relief that Charlotte desperately needed.

“There were a few moments out there tonight where I was screaming ‘What are they going to say now,’” said Ivey.

“Trexler has always been prepared for this,” said wideout Sean Brown. “I don’t want to say I called it, but I’ve always seen him take that leadership role. He’s cool, calm and collected.”

Grade: C-

49ers’ rushing defense

Bend but don’t break has been Charlotte’s defensive mantra under coordinator Ryan Osborn, and the 49ers needed every single inch of McColl-Richardson Field on Saturday night.

Missing edge Stone Handy and linebacker Prince Wallace-Bemah, Charlotte’s front seven stepped up when it mattered most. Charlotte held Gardner-Webb to just 1.7 yards per carry on 29 attempts, totaling just 50 yards. The 49ers stuffed 31% of the Runnin’ Bulldogs carries and made Cris Reisert’s team one-dimensional, especially in the second half.

A spirited halftime speech by Wilks changed the tide, and Charlotte got the message.

“He lit a fire under us. I’m not going to say everything he said, but he let it be known that this isn’t the standard. And we knew that,” said Ali. “Coach Wilks told us what we needed to hear, and that’s why we went out there and got the job done.”

Grade: B

49ers’ passing defense

For a defense that was in survival mode for much of the evening, Charlotte’s secondary stepped up with the game on the line. Trevon Booker and Dre Butler combined for the game’s most important tackle, keeping Gardner-Webb out of the endzone on what could have been a lead-changing two-point attempt in the game’s final minutes.

Three turnovers kept Charlotte afloat while the offense sputtered, including two by Ali and one by Mike Kelly-Lawson — his first career interception.

But Gardner-Webb had its way for much of the evening, including the late-game score that could’ve tied the game at 27. Quarterback Tyler Riddell shredded Charlotte’s secondary early, completing 23 of his 38 passes for 340 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions.

Getting little to no pressure on Riddell in the first half, Charlotte began heating up the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ signal-caller in the game’s final 30 minutes, sending zero blitzes, stunting their ends and letting linebacker Reid Williford get after the quarterback.

Gardner-Webb averaged 14.8 yards per completion, accumulating 164 yards after the catch against Charlotte’s secondary. The big play continues to bite Charlotte’s defense, allowing 10 or more chunk plays for the third straight game, this time giving up 11 for 279 yards – 9 for 255 through the air.

Despite the injuries to each level of Charlotte’s defense, the 49ers have the talent to win games like this. Surrendering 390 yards of total offense, getting bailed out by a missed 27-yard field goal, and needing a goal line stand on a two-point conversion to win against Gardner-Webb is not a good recipe for the slate ahead — which isn’t getting any easier.

Grade: D

49ers’ special teams

The only facet of the game that Charlotte performed like an FBS team for all four quarters was special teams.

Henry Rutledge started the action with a 48-yard kick return and Michael O’Shaughnessy booted the third-longest punt in program history — 73 yards pinning Gardner-Webb inside its own 1-yard line.

The 49ers’ lone first-half points came as the game clock expired, with kicker Stephen Rusnak connecting on a 54-yard field goal to prevent the shutout. He would later connect on a 25-yard field goal to start Charlotte’s second-half comeback.

Charlotte needed all the help it could get on Saturday night, and Rusnak’s career-long boot ahead of the half started what would be the second-biggest comeback in school history.

Grade: A

Overall grade

A win is a win, but this is not how you draw it up for your first home victory in over a year. Following Charlotte’s second consecutive sellout, Poggi called out the fan base.

“Well, you probably should have gotten all of your money’s worth by staying for the whole game,” Poggi said. “For those that weren’t here, that were saying whatever they were saying on social media – grow up. Get out of your grandmother’s basement and grow up.”

With now four wins in two seasons as head coach, and 665 days since Charlotte beat an FBS team at home, Poggi and the 49ers should be thanking those in attendance, and handling business in games where they’re 14-point favorites.

Smiles spanned the Judy W. Rose Center after the game as the players celebrated their first win of the season, and Charlotte is clamoring for more of that moving forward.

“I’ll sleep good tonight. Whatever we do tomorrow, I’m excited for it,” said Brown.

With a road trip to Indiana rounding out conference play next week, the Charlotte 49ers have their work cut out for them ahead of American Athletic Conference play.

Grade: D