Meet the Opponent: Charlotte Travels To Indiana After Comeback Win

Indiana football looks to stay undefeated on Saturday against Charlotte at Memorial Stadium. Here’s a full breakdown of the 49ers.

Charlotte 49ers head coach Biff Poggi walks the sidelines against the Maryland Terrapins at SECU Stadium. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana wraps up nonconference play with a matchup against Charlotte, a 1-2 team out of the American Athletic Conference. This phase of coach Curt Cignetti’s first season with the Hoosiers has been close to flawless. 

Indiana defeated Florida International comfortably in the season opener, 31-7. The Hoosiers’ starters and backups dismantled Western Illinois and set single-game program records for points scored and total offense in the 77-3 victory. 

Indiana dipped into Big Ten play for a moment with a 42-13 win over UCLA at the Rose Bowl, which led to the Hoosiers receiving votes in Sunday’s AP Top 25 poll. On Saturday, Indiana has a chance to start 4-0 for the first time since the 2020 season and match or surpass its season-long win totals from each of the last three seasons. 

In its way is Charlotte, which is coming off an improbable comeback win against Gardner-Webb. The 49ers trailed 20-3 late in the third quarter, but backup quarterback Trexler Ivey led three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter to secure a 27-26 win.

Charlotte lost 30-7 at home against James Madison in Week 1, then fell 38-20 at North Carolina in Week 2.

Here’s a look at the 49ers.

Key offensive players

Poggi said Tuesday that Charlotte will start Ivey at quarterback against Indiana. Ivey, a walk-on redshirt junior, began the season as Charlotte’s third-string quarterback, but he’s now in a starting role after injuries to Max Brown and Deshawn Purdie.

Ivey isn’t the typical, inexperienced third-string quarterback, though. He played in 11 games with five starts last season, completing 112 of 203 passes (55.2%) for 1,263 yards, four passing touchdowns, three rushing touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

In the comeback win over Gardner-Webb, Ivey was nearly perfect. He completed 11 of 12 passes for 142 yards, two touchdown passes, three touchdown drives and zero turnovers – all coming in the fourth quarter. Cignetti said Monday that Purdie has more of a live arm and mobility than Ivey, who has a leg up in experience.

“Moxie. He’s tough,” Poggi said of Ivey. “He’s tough mentally, tough emotionally. He makes the right decisions, and our team has a tremendous amount of confidence in him and so do the coaches. I’m really happy for him. You never want to see guys get hurt obviously, but really happy for Trexler.”

Ivey threw touchdown passes on Saturday to 6-foot-2 O’Mega Blake and 6-foot-4 Sean Brown, receivers who could challenge Indiana with their height. Senior tight end Bryce Kennon led Charlotte with 70 receiving yards, and Cignetti said wide receiver Jairus Mack, who leads the team with 157 receiving yards in 2024, “can really go.”

Charlotte 49ers running back Hahsaun Wilson (38) runs against the North Carolina defense. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Poggi said the run game has been “miserable” so far. Charlotte has balanced carries between three players: Hahsaun Wilson (19 carries, 116 yards, one touchdown), Terron Kellman (14 carries, 84 yards) and Cartevious Norton (21 carries, 44 yards). Wilson and Kellman have long runs for 39 and 41 yards, respectively, but otherwise it's been tough sledding. 

According to Pro Football Focus (PFF), Charlotte’s best team grade of the season is its pass blocking (79.8) by a wide margin. That’s highlighted by an 89.6 pass blocking grade against Gardner-Webb. Charlotte has a veteran offensive line with four of its five starters being redshirt juniors or older. Each has significantly higher grades for pass blocking than run blocking.

Key defensive players

Charlotte intercepted three passes in a comeback win over Gardner-Webb on Saturday, including two interceptions from defensive back Al-Ma’hi Ali, who also had one pass breakup and leads the team with a 77.2 coverage grade, per PFF. The third came from defensive lineman Michael Kelly-Lawson, a sixth-year senior. 

Though they lost their first two games, the 49ers did a solid job in the turnover department early in the season, too. Charlotte won the turnover margin against North Carolina, thanks to an interception from defensive back Maguire Neal. 

Against James Madison, defensive back Dontae Balfour had an interception, and defensive lineman Colin Coates recovered a fumble forced by Chantz Williams. Something will have to give against Indiana’s offense, which is one of just five FBS teams without a turnover lost in 2024. 

Charlotte’s turnovers have come from a variety of sources, and so have its tackles. There has been a different leading tackler in each of Charlotte’s first three games, most recently with linebacker Cam Burden making eight against Gardner-Webb.

Charlotte 49ers defensive back Maguire Neal (29) runs after intercepting a pass against North Carolina. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Linebacker Reid Williford leads the team with 19 total tackles, followed by Ali and Burden with 16 apiece. Eight 49ers have made at least nine tackles. Charlotte has eight sacks from seven players across three games, including a team-high two sacks from defensive lineman Stephen Sings V. 

Charlotte ranks 17th in the FBS with 24 tackles for loss, and 13 players have contributed to that figure. Williford leads the team with four tackles for loss, followed by Dre Butler. 

Through three games, three edge rushers have the team’s highest grade for defense, according to PFF: Williams (82.0), Lacota Dippre (77.6) and Sings (77.4). Williams’ 88.2 pass rush grade is the highest grade for a Charlotte defender in any category. Safety Treyveon McGee is close behind with an 87.3 tackling grade.

Charlotte notes

Charlotte ranks 101st among 134 FBS teams with 343.7 total yards per game. A majority of that has come through the air, with 279.3 passing yards per game. Only five FBS teams have rushed for fewer yards per game than Charlotte’s 64.3. That’s led to an offense averaging 18 points per game, which is tied for 117th.

Defensively, it hasn’t been any better. Charlotte has given up 431 total yards per game which ranks 114th. More of that has come in the passing game with 260 yards allowed per game, compared to 171 rushing yards allowed per game. Charlotte has allowed 31.3 points per game, which ranks 113th.

The 49ers did a good job stopping the run against Gardner-Webb, allowing just 50 yards on 29 carries, a significant improvement from the first two weeks. James Madison and North Carolina combined to run the ball 85 times for 463 yards against Charlotte, good for 5.4 yards per carry.

Charlotte is in its second season under Poggi, 64, who previously spent two seasons as an associate head coach on Jim Harbaugh’s staff at Michigan. He began his career as an assistant at The Citadel, and he was an analyst for Harbaugh in 2016. 

Poggi has spent the majority of his career as a high school coach. He was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at the Gilman School in Baltimore, Md. from 1988-95, then became Gilman’s head coach from 1996-2015 and won 13 state titles. He was also the head coach of St. Frances Academy in Baltimore from 2017-20, where his team was featured in the HBO documentary "The Cost of Winning.”

Saturday will be the first-ever matchup between Indiana and Charlotte.

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