Is Charlotte Football A Tough Week 1 Test?

Jamie football opens up their season down in the Queen City against the 49ers on August 31st about 66 days away you had an interesting text this week do you wanna do you want to Tee It Up or or do you want me to to kind of out you here well I don't think I guess my my point I don't think Charlotte will be quite as bad as last year when they were three and n and even when they were three and N they were actually kind of competitive in some games I remember they hung with Maryland early in that game uh because we watched part of that or PID attention to part of that because that was after UVA JMU that same week they kind of hung with Maryland uh they had some other games where they played pretty well they took Memphis to overtime Memphis is one of the better teams in the American last year especially offensively they have a lot of talent they reloaded key positions including quarterback running back receiver with power five transfers defensively I think their defensive line could be sneaky good they have one of the best corners in what is it bow for um in the conference I think I don't want to say that it's going to be like a super challenging Jie's going to lose week one game but I'd be interested to see I know we had some some people watching the live stream sort of there takes us I become glowing let me put my thing down but people are watching I love I love I love the today people are um the people who are watching live stream and then for you also Jack my question would be scale of 1 to 10 how do you feel about about that Charlotte game 10 being like hard win hardest game of the year one being Cakewalk FCS where in that range does that game fall for you for me 10 being Cakewalk or one other way one's Cakewalk TS hard I think it's about a five or a six and I think a lot of JMU fans are thinking it's going to be like a two or a three I I think it's going to be difficult Charlotte last year ranked 1 two 3 four five sixth in the American Athletic Conference so top half of the American Athletic Conference in defensive EPA so expected points added they ranked 68th in the country in defensive EPA which is not a number to kind of put your nose up at they're they're a solid defense that were put in some really difficult spots Time and Time Again by an underachieving offense the offense at times last year was allergic to moving the football and yet they somehow still finished 105th in the nation in offensive EPA which is still horrible but I thought it was much much worse than that uh their rushing attack ranked 88th in the nation and their passing attack ranked 108th and they were one of the worst teams in the nation in early down success rate and early down EPA so they didn't really do anything right offensively and yet their defense still was able to kind of hold their own and played pretty darn well all season with that being said I I don't fear their offense in a way where they're going to be able to put up even 10 points on a JMU defense that we really don't know what to expect out of but I think their offense is still going to be pretty bad they they added a ton of transfers they added I believe a Florida backup who is the expected starter for the 49ers that might be the difference because last year they were trotting out like their fourth string quarterback at times hoping he could provide a spark and nothing ever clicked for that offense uh they did lose their best running back they did lose their best weapons offensively uh to I believe the NFL draft maybe that was two years ago they lost to the transfer portal like a lot of group of five teams so their offense might be in neemi again this year unless they have a really good transfer quarterback but we don't know really how good he's going to be since he was the back of at for yeah well I mean I think the thing that's fascinating for me is there's a little bit of is there any fear week one very new roster Road game like weird stuff can happen you don't always play well in week one like last year JMU was in my opinion very bad in week one but they played Bucknell so I think that's what also gives me a little fear it's like a it's a strange one to open with because if you're open with a power five and you lose which they had in years past to the FCS doesn't really matter if you open with like an FCS Morehead State kind of game you know you're going to cruise and work through some stuff same with Bucknell this is one where it's on the road against a group of five team where you kind of have to show up and play decent football that's the part I guess that made me gives me just a little bit of stress because Charlotte does have talent even if they aren't um even if they aren't great yeah Brian on YouTube said his prediction is college football playoff for the football team and 30 wins in men's basketball we'll get to basketball in a little bit if they're making the college football playoff this I don't think this is just a win I think this has to be a convincing win because you might finish the year with one Lo well there's a likelihood you finish the year with one loss and there's probably going to be a one other or two other group of five teams with one loss and you're going to need a convincing win over a team that is probably going to finish middle of the pack in the American Athletic Conference and it's going to be a tough environment I mean Jerry Richardson Stadium isn't the biggest it's not an intimidating place to play per se but Duke went in there what was that three years ago in 2021 won to open up that season and fell the crowd especially early on in the season before they've been beaten down by losses when there's still hope their student section comes out in waves they are a passionate fan base they care it it's gonna be a tougher environment than maybe I don't know Tulsa yeah it'll be a a bit of a test there and I still think they win the game but it it's one that has my maybe a little bit more of my attention than it did C weeks ago I think we'll learn a lot about the offense in this game because Charlotte's defense is good so if they're in theory on paper they'll be good so if they're running through the 49ers defense like a hot knife through butter then I expect them to be a very good offense this upcoming year now if they're struggling against Charlotte I don't think it's time to hit the Panic alarm because I I think their defense is going to be good so I expect them to struggle a little bit maybe only put up 24 points but that's going to tell you a lot about this team offensively yeah you said we had a comment mentioning college football playoff and I think fans myself included think that that's a realistic not maybe not a realistic expectation but a realistic goal I think for for JMU is to contend for the sun Bel this year possibly win the sun Bel even with the coaching turnover even with the roster turnover I was looking through this earlier today I found this very fascinating Jam Us's had kind of crazy success recently the first year of a head coach so even dating back to to Mickey Matthews he took over for Alex Wood Alex Wood was three and8 in 1998 Mickey Matthews took over in 1999 they go eight and four with a playoff birth pretty solid Matthews stays obviously for quite a long time they're six and six in 2013 his final season don't make the playoffs Withers comes in they go nine and4 make the playoffs Los in the first round then you have S or Houston right after Withers he's taking over raer man I know my apologies I was scrolling quick 14- one his first year that's after a nine and3 season he obviously made the defense way better they win the national championship too let's not forget about that incredible first year cetti takes over a team that sort of sputtered a little bit finished 9-4 they go 14-2 play for the national champion ship like it's not crazy to have high expectations when you've seen like what is that the last four coaches to take over spanning multiple decades have all come in and immediately won like I think the worst record there is eight and four J M's win total this year is eight and a half kind of crazy to think but like they should they should win a lot of games can I throw a wrench in that though yeah that was pre-transfer portal and this is the first time that not only did they lose a coach but they lost uh their entire coaching staff of course Aiden Fischer Jaylen Walker Tyler Stevens Kon black Mel Kamar Tyson lton James Carpenter Zack Horton Nick Kidwell Carter Miller Kaden shle Elijah sarraf Bren Austin Jordan McLoud Ibraham Barry that last one doesn't matter Jordan McLoud that's true but then they also brought in like a former pack like I think that's the part that like the portal obviously they lost a lot they also had what I consider to be a pretty nice Hall yeah they did so I think that's what what's so exciting is like the schedule's not that hard they brought in a lot ches is supposed to be the real deal they have a previous history of like winning right away and not needing these rebuilds with new coaches coming in yeah I don't know I think that the expectations feel like they're extremely high so I think that Charlotte game is going to be particularly fascinating because that's one where you uh you got to find ways to win pretty quick and look good because you if you drop that one you have no margin for error the rest of the year in terms of the college football playoff [Music]