3 Things That Worry Me About Charlotte

Here’s why I’m NOT worried about Saturday afternoon when the Niners come to town:

1.   The Charlotte offense. Out of 134 teams ranked, the Charlotte offense ranks 100^th in completion percentage; 118^th in 1^st down offense; 130^th in fumbles lost; 132^nd in red zone offense; 128^th in rushing offense; 128^th in scoring offense, 108^th in tackles for loss allowed; 101^st in time of possession, and 115^th in total offense. Do you need more analysis? Okay then, here we go…

2.  The Charlotte defense. Out of that same 134 FBS teams ranked, the Charlotte defense ranks 110^th in 3^rd down defense; 134^th in 1^st down defense; 113^th in passes intercepted; 124^th in passing yards allowed; 130^th in rush defense; 131^st in scoring defense; 122^nd in team sacks; 119^th in tackles for loss; amd 134^th in total defense (that is dead last).

3.  Look, this is a new football program. As in they didn’t start playing football at all until around 2013 and that was FCS. They’ve only been FBS for a decade. It’s a former commuter school that started catering to the local banking industry (First Union, Bank of America) and has been busting at the seams ever since. It’s the fastest growing school in the UNC system. But with all the newfound money and resources, they haven’t figured out how to field a competitive football team.

They also aren’t sure what to call themselves. It is the University of North Carolina – Charlotte, or UNCC. I guess pushing “Charlotte” on the ESPN ticker prevents confusion with UNCA (Asheville), UNCG (Greensboro), UNCW (Wilmington), UNCP (Pembroke), UNCCH (Chapel Hill), and technically UNCR (NC State University in Raleigh). And I guess there’s the possibility of confusion with NC Central, which is NCCU and thus an anagram of UNCC.

Now forgive me, as I was weaned at the nipple of Larry Munson’s scratch so here’s what does worry me about playing UNCC in the 11^th game of the season:

1.  Injuries. We lost Colbie Young a few weeks ago and while the offense has been clicking since, I would much rather have him as an option if we make it to a meaningful postseason game. Then there’s CJ Allen. Raylen Wilson and Chris Cole and others did well to cover when Allen left the Texas game early. But if you don’t think we will need him next Friday, then you haven’t been watching closely enough.

We should easily have a physical advantage at every position against Charlotte, but football is by nature violent and large men contacting each other at speed can lead to injuries, as can inadvertent friendly fire from a teammate rolling up on your ankle. We need to escape this injury free, and well rested.

2 . Ten games into the season, with 8 SEC contests completed and many of those from a desperate or come-from-behind situation means we aren’t concerned with what we might put on film. That ship sailed and took the green notebook with it. Tech and any other opponent have plenty to study. Bulldog OC Mike Bobo has done a good job of many different looks, using the same look but different personnel, and running different plays from the same look. At this point, it is down to discipline. So we can expect pretty straightforward playcalling, and probably a lower scoring affair than the stats listed above would lead you to believe. Busted coverages and busted tackles will be the bigger contributor to big scores on the scoreboard than the schemes we run Saturday.

3 . We need to be sharp. This week contains a myriad of distractions:  days off for Thanksgiving, the almost immediate final day of classes right after that, then final exams, not to mention a big rivalry game, CFP rankings talk, coaching and other madness… all these things will be fighting for attention inside the heads of our beloved Bulldogs. So it would be easy to lose focus and not practice the good habits the UGA coaching staff has been working for months to instill. The journey is not over, this is just a little easier obstacle in the way. We need our boys to keep the main thing the main thing and keep chopping. Because we saw last year in the playoffs how quick things can turn on you when you don’t focus and make some small mistakes.

Call me crazy, just don’t call me late for dinner. Let us know in the comments what you’re feeling about Senior Day in Sanford Stadium. And as always…

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

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