Charlotte 49ers: Get a Big Symbolic Victory
As they go on bye week, let’s credit the Charlotte 49ers with their latest victory.
Lately I haven’t been giving the Charlotte 49ers, Appalachian State Mountaineers, and East Carolina Pirates their due. It isn’t because the teams have not been playing tough football games, but because I am only one man.
The Mountaineers have been polishing off Sun Belt teams at a pretty good pace and even injuries should not slow them down as the season continues.
The East Carolina Pirates are 2-5 overall without a win since playing NC State. Life has been tough for the Pirates in Scottie Montgomery’s first season.
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Yet it was the Charlotte 49ers (3-5) that genuinely surprised me over the weekend. They had defied my expectations all season. They got blown out by Old Dominion (didn’t see that one coming) and played the two Florida schools exactly opposite to how I predicted (beat FAU and lost to FIU close instead of vice versa).
The 49ers beat Marshall 27-24 this past Saturday. Read that again. Marshall. The Thundering Herd may be in the middle of a rebuilding year (2-5), but they are the school with the most tradition of success in Conference USA’s football contingent. Their only real rival in that sense is Southern Miss.
Saturday’s victory has to register as the most important football victory in school history. This is the sign that the team belongs on the FBS stage. The only victory that could rival it would be last year’s win against Georgia State. That was Charlotte’s first FBS win although we did not know at the time that Georgia State would be a bowl at the end of that season.
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Marshall, even a bad Marshall team, has so much more credibility. The 49ers even worked for it too. They kept their turnover count to one, an interception by Hassan Klugh. They took the ball away from the Herd twice, and it was important each time they did because they needed a 17-0 run to come back and win.
Kalif Phillips was solid throughout and he got two touchdowns and 123 yards out of it. That formula of ball control and not turning it over will something that the 49ers try to replicate all season long. With a bye this week, they can prepare for Hattiesburg and Southern Miss on November 5.