What did 49ers learn from trip to Ole Miss?
There are a number of ways to look at the Charlotte 49ers’ loss Saturday night at nationally-ranked Ole Miss, but one thing is for sure – that game is history, and another contest is fast approaching.
The 49ers were soundly beaten in a game in which they were expected to be soundly beaten.
Actually the 41-9 final score was not as bad as the betting line, which had Charlotte as a 45.5-point underdog against the ninth-ranked Rebels.
Charlotte actually moved the ball fairly well in the second half and made some stops on the Ole Miss offense in the final 30 minutes. But the 49ers also went 0-for-3 in the red zone, trading field goals for possible touchdowns. And they made enough early mistakes to put themselves in a 27-0 hole at halftime.
But the next game for the 49ers (0-2) is fast approaching, and it’s a visit to Appalachian State, a team that Charlotte would like to consider a rival – if the 49ers could ever play a close game against the Mountaineers.
The 49ers and App State meet at 6 p.m. Saturday.
“I’m real proud of the effort of our guys again, but disappointed with the score, of course,” Charlotte head coach Tim Albin said after the Ole Miss loss.
Now, Albin and his staff will work to take the best of what they saw Saturday night and use it against the unbeaten (2-0) Mountaineers on Saturday.
First, a quick review of what happened in Oxford, Miss.
Ole Miss scored on its opening possession, on a 5-yard run by Kewan Lacy. The the 49ers played solid defense and trailed just 7-0 after the first quarter.
But the Rebels scored 20 points in the second quarter, on a pass by Heisman candidate Trinidad Chambliss, another short run by Lacy, and a pair of field goals by Lucas Carneiro.
The first of the kicks by Carneiro, a Community School of Davidson graduate, covered 57 yards.
Down 27-0, Charlotte showed life in the third quarter and early in the fourth. The 49ers got deep into Ole Miss territory three times. But each time, the drive stalled and ended with an Ian Kelly field goal. While the 49ers were getting field goals, Ole Miss was scoring two touchdowns, one of them on another Chambliss pass.
Beyond the positives, Albin said he saw areas where his team needs improvement before traveling to Boone.
One of those was defending the run-pass option (RPO). Chambliss and Ole Miss made very effective use of the RPO on Saturday night, something Albin addressed.
“They hurt us with some RPO things,” Albin said.
Albin said some of that was the result of facing Chambliss.
“That RPO was with their first-day-draft guy,” he said, referring to the expectation that Chambliss will be drafted in the opening round of the NFL draft next spring.
“It’s something we’ll have to clean up,” he said.
App State has made effective use of the run-pass option in its offense so far this season.
And the 49ers will go to Boone with three options at quarterback. Charlotte played a trio of players at that position Saturday night. That included Conner Harrell, who saw action in the fourth quarter and completed 5-of-6 passes for 50 yards.
Harrell suffered a serious knee injury last season and wasn’t expected back in the lineup until the middle of this season.
“I was almost in tears,” Albin said of Harrell’s return to the field. “This kid has battled. I’m very happy that he was worked this hard and gotten to this point.”
