PF.com preview: SMU welcomes Charlotte in AAC opener

by **PonyPride** » Wed Sep 27, 2023 1:04 pm

PF.com preview: Mustangs welcome Charlotte in AAC opener
Mustangs, 49ers meet for first time at 6 p.m. Saturday

A new era starts Saturday. The SMU Mustangs kick off the American Athletic Conference portion of their 2023 schedule in a 6:30 p.m. home matchup against the Charlotte 49ers, who will be playing their first AAC game after joining the conference this season.

First-year Charlotte head coach Biff Poggi said this week that at this time of year, every team has the same goals, which still are within each team’s reach.

“It’s great to be in a league, right?” Poggi said. “It’s great to be in this league. It’s great to be in a league because every team that’s in the league wants to in the league.

“There’s an old football saying: nobody remembers what you did in September — they remember what you did in November. We have a chance to be a Phoenix, resurrected from the ashes.”

The “ashes” reference might be a bit dramatic, even though the 49ers enter Saturday’s game with a 1-3 record, including an 0-2 record on the road, after opening the season with a 24-3 win over South Carolina State before losing at Maryland (38-20), at home to Georgia State (41-25) and last week at No. 25 Florida (22-7).

“Each game, we’ve been getting better and better,” Charlotte tight end Colin Weber said. “You go back and watch the tape, and it’s three plays that really could be the difference. So we’re right there, and we’re looking to blow the lid off this thing.”

That might be true, but it has not happened yet. The 49ers have lost three of four, but aren’t getting blown out; they have been outscored through four games by an average of 26-19. More revealing is the yardage: opponents have outgained Charlotte by an average of 415.3-306.3 yards of total yards per game.

When Charlotte plays well, it is led by its defense. In their season-opening win over South Carolina State, the 49ers spotted the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead before reeling off 24 straight points en route to the victory. Charlotte’s defense was less than generous, allowing only 168 yards of total offense, including just 59 yards through the air.

The 4-3 defense is led by middle linebacker Prince Bemah (6-2, 225), who has a team-high 28 tackles through four games, while linebacker Demetrius Knight (6-2, 248) and safety Wayne Jones (6-0, 205) have 27 each.

The top defensive linemen are ends Eyabi Okie-Anoma, a Michigan transfer who has 22 tackles and leads the defense with two sacks, and Demon Clowney — yes, he’s Jadeveon’s cousin. Clowney is listed as Okie-Anoma’s backup, but Poggi said this week that both will start. The ends and linebackers feed off the space created inside by defensive tackles Dez Morgan (6-3, 305) and Miguel Jackson (6-2, 296) … not to mention backup Jonathan Wallace, who is, if nothing else … huge. The team’s game notes say he carries 381 pounds on his 6-3 frame; on the school’s website, he is listed at 394.

The 49er defense has three interceptions in its first four games, including a pair by freshman safety Kameron Howard (5-11, 187).

Who leads the Charlotte offense Saturday remains to be seen. Quarterbacks Jalon Jones (6-3, 201) and Trexler Ivey (6-0, 198) both have played in all four games this season, and Poggi said they both will get some time in the team’s AAC opener. Jones has been slightly more productive, completing 35 of 57 passes (61.4 percent) for 363 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but Ivey has been more accurate, connecting on 28 of 42 (66.7 percent) for 352 and a score; Ivey also has protected the ball better, coughing up just one interception, compared to three for Jones.

Their top target this season has been Jack Hestera, a 6-1, 185-pound sophomore from Cedar Park, Texas, who has 15 receptions through four games for a team-leading 202 yards and one of the team’s three receiving touchdowns. Weber (6-4, 261) is next with 10 receptions for 113 yards, and is a capable and powerful blocker. The best deep threat in the Charlotte passing game is wideout Jairus Mack (5-10, 180) who has piled up 141 yards and a touchdown on just six catches … giving him a team-high average of 23.5 yards per catch.

Charlotte is one of the few teams whose offensive tackles can look SMU tackles Marcus Bryant and Hyrin White eye-to-eye: left tackle Lucas Gramlick carries 290 pounds on his 6-7 frame, while the 49ers’ bookend on the other side, right tackle Jasper Parks, goes 6-7, 315. The 49ers like to run left, and with good reason: Gramlick lines up next to left guard Kevin Williams, Jr., a 6-5, 338-pound mauler, and often has a blocking tight end on his left side.

There are two ways to look at the running game. Is the fact that Jones leads the team with 261 yards on 52 carries (5.0 yards per carry) and three of the team’s five rushing touchdowns an endorsement of his ability as a dangerous weapon in the ground game? Or does it mean that the rest of the ground game is not very potent?

Shadrick Byrd (5-10, 211) is listed as the team’s starting running back, but is only the team’s fourth-most productive player at the position, with 46 yards on 20 carries (2.3 per carry), none of which has been longer than 8 yards. The team’s most productive running back is freshman Durell Robinson, who has 26 carries for 117 yards (4.5 per) and a score.

Punter Grant Gonya is a weapon, averaging 45.7 yards on 20 punts, with five of 50 or more yards and seven inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. Freshman kicker Kyle Cunanan has converted two of four field-goal attempts this season, with a long of 45.

The 49ers have faced two stout opponents in their non-confernece games against Maryland and Florida, but Poggi, who says his expectation for the program is for the 49ers to be “a national power,” said his team is in for another significant challenge Saturday at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.

“We know what we’re getting into,” Poggi said. “We’re playing in Dallas. SMU is a really good football team — so good that the Atlantic Coast Conference picked them to come join them. So they’re really another Power 5 school that we’re going to go play, and it’s going to be a very, very, very tough contest for us, and another steep hill to climb.

“We’re going into an absolute hornets’ nest on Saturday. I mean, we’re going into a hornets’ nest, right? They’re really good. They played Oklahoma really tough, they played TCU really tough, they beat LaTech and Prairie View pretty good … and they’re used to winning. Their goal is to win this league and move to the ACC, but they want to win it before they go … and we know that they are waiting for us.”