WoolyBully

https://charlotte49ers.com/news/2023/11/25/football-recap-charlotte-at-south-florida.aspx "Charlotte's injury-decimated roster caught up to it in the third quarter as South Florida piled up 20 points on its way to a 48-14 American Athletic Conference victory, Saturday at Raymond James Stadium. It was the season-finale for the 49ers (3-9; AAC: 2-6), who were playing without over half its starters, while USF (6-6; AAC: 4-4) reached bowl eligibility with the victory. "I've been participating in football for a long time and I've never been more proud of a team, win or lose, than I am with these guys tonight," said head coach Biff Poggi. "We had 12 starters out. That's over 50% of our starters -- I think most kids would have packed it in. They never did. We played three interior defensive linemen. One was a freshman. One was a hard-working guy (who hasn't played much) and one was a back-up offensive lineman. We fought to the bitter end and I'm really proud of the kids."

a 1.000 12 b 0.750 9 c 0.500 6 d 0.250 3 f 0.000 0 So, it would appear that getting an A in Professor E.T.'s takes considerable effort?

Given the starting point, coming off of four abysmal years, I think an A is warranted. But let's be clear. This is an "A" for this year, without deducting points for any existing shortcomings or 'room for improvement'. Just going with the overall product.That's a huge lift, winding up with 50% wins and bowl game. Five wins would have been a welcome improvement.

I think that winning six - and mentioning a bowl game - was a good guess. Especially on August 25th. I went with Vegas at -4.5. Six & a bowl is what we in the wonderful world of gaming refer to as 'upset', not an uncommon occurrence in the wide world of sports. Do I still think it's funny? Maybe not funny, but I do think we lucked out based on the conference competition we faced this season. Yes, the six wins are enough to get a bowl bid, and certainly better than the last four years.

Congratulations all around. This program has been mired in the muck for a long time. These seniors deserve a bowl game after all they've had to contend with.

The important thing is that I've got $20 on USF to cover -5.5. Don't disappoint.

I like the unis.

As a reminder, your polygraph is scheduled for Monday afternoon. Dress comfortably.

UNCLASSIFIED: LIMDIS / HVBPCO (Handle Via Bulls Pen Channels Only) BEGIN TEXT TRANSCRIPT: =============================================== Senior days, homecomings, playing spoiler and ending year one on a positive note — Saturday’s season finale for Biff Poggi’s Charlotte 49es has more storylines than usual for a team searching for its fourth victory of the year. But Poggi and Charlotte’s staff only care about one thing in Tampa against South Florida on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. — winning. While “personal pride” is still the team’s rallying cry, Saturday will close the chapter on Poggi’s first year as head coach. It will also serve as a tryout for a roster that is sure to be in flux from around midnight on Saturday to late August of 2024. Likely down 10 starters due to the spreading injury bug, Charlotte is continuing to dip into its scout team to fill in at crucial moments to round out their first season in the American Athletic Conference. And if you’ve been following the 49ers through this adventure of a season, you know that performances by the walk-on trio of quarterback Trexler Ivey, center Isaiah Bullerdick and tailback Hahsaun Wilson have provided some of the peaks, resulting in promised scholarships for two of the three to this point. TOP VIDEOS “Every game is a tryout. Every day at practice is an audition. We will make personnel decisions, as every school will, after the season. This will play into it, for sure,” said Poggi. “For a lot of these guys who haven’t had a chance, it’s a great opportunity. This could be like a Hahsaun Wilson redux for a lot of guys. And for guys that aren’t meeting the challenge, there will be consequences for that, too.” Injuries, lack of discipline, scholarship distribution, and learning on the fly have also provided some of the valleys, which is a matter of “band-aids and brain surgery,” according to the 63-year-old head coach. “As much as we love coaches, coaches don’t win games. Players do. We have to really improve the roster, and we’re working on that,” said Poggi. “There are band-aids, and then there’s brain surgery. And I’m a believer in brain surgery. I don’t like doing band-aids. While Poggi didn’t have walk-ons leading game-winning drives, nearly breaking rushing records and filling in on an injury-depleted offensive line on his bingo card, he says it “doesn’t matter.” What matters is leaving Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium with a victory, and Charlotte has a tough test with the Bulls (5-6, 3-4 AAC) vying for their first bowl appearance since 2018. ROAD MATADORS While Charlotte’s defensive improvements have been a bright spot this season, climbing 75 spots in total team defense rankings under Ryan Osborn, the 49ers’ offense must bounce back from their one-touchdown performance last week to give Charlotte a chance. In five of the Bulls’ six losses this season, they’ve allowed an average of 52.2 points per game. The other was a 17-3 loss against the No. 10 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. South Florida’s defense is surrendering an FBS-worst 36.8 points and 313.6 passing yards per game on the season. For reference, Charlotte’s troublesome defense from a year ago under Will Healy surrendered 39.4 points and 278 passing yards per game. Ivey and Mike Miller’s offense will have their opportunities, and Charlotte must turn in its fifth 21-plus point performance of the season to leave South Florida with a victory. Bend, but don’t break. Nobody wants to see that. “Talk about the tale of two tempos — we just played the second slowest in college football, and now we’re playing the second fastest,” Osborn said. “I told the defense that the only chance we’ve got is to limit points. I don’t care about their yards; they’re going to get their yards. I gave them a number (of points). I told them if we hit that number, we’ll win the game.” The Bulls are led by redshirt freshman Byrum Brown, a former finalist for North Carolina’s 2021 Mr. Football award and a member of The Charlotte Observer’s North Carolina super team. Brown has accounted for 3,527 combined yards, 29 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in his first full season at the helm. The Raleigh native has rushed for 702 yards on the season, which ranks second on the Bulls’ roster and eighth in the AAC. Brown’s best game of the season came against Rice’s defense in late September, when he shredded the Owls for 520 total yards (435 passing) and three touchdowns. That same defense held Charlotte to just 158 yards of total offense less than seven days ago. “Let’s talk about Byrum Brown. He wasn’t recruited by Charlotte. It’s the craziest thing how many good players in our conference are from this region and aren’t here,” Osborn said. “This kid is a stud. He’ll be just like (Michael) Pratt and (Seth) Henigan in two years; just wait. Very dynamic. He can beat you with his feet and can throw the ball really well.” Boding well for Charlotte, Brown has tossed an interception in four straight games, including two in a lopsided loss against Texas-San Antonio last Friday. The 49ers have recorded six interceptions and 16 pass breakups in the last four games alone, led by Dontae Balfour’s team-best 10 pass breakups. Brown’s favorite target is Sean Atkins, who has 43 more catches than the next-highest Bulls receiver. Atkins has reeled in 79 catches for 900 yards and four touchdowns this season, doing 92.2% of his damage from the slot, according to Pro Football Focus. Nearly half of Atkins’ production has come after the catch, adding 424 of his 900 yards with the ball in his hands. The 5-foot-10 wideout also serves as the team’s punt returner. HOW DO THE CHARLOTTE 49ERS WIN? South Florida runs nearly 84 plays per game — the most in college football. If Charlotte is to win, it will be generating long, clock-eating drives to give their defense a breather. Charlotte is 16th in the nation in time of possession, holding the ball for over 32 minutes per game. Whether it’s Wilson, Joachim Bangda, or another running back that Charlotte fans may not know, Miller’s offense must dominate the line of scrimmage and get ahead of the chains. This is a battle of the most penalized teams in the AAC, with Charlotte surrendering 57.9 yards and South Florida 67.5 penalty yards per game. The more disciplined team will leave Raymond James Stadium with a victory, and Charlotte’s chance to play spoiler starts with a fast start in the game’s opening quarter, where the 49ers have scored just 20 total points all season. END TEXT TRANSCRIPT: =============================================== BURN AFTER: 26 NOV 23

OK, then the next question is: how do you feel about our MOST MEANINGFUL GAME, in six years, being played against Charlotte? Add to that the 'meaningfulness' in this sense of the word is to become bowl eligible? I know, I know, a lot of team's post season aspirations hang in the balance of the last regular season game.

Happy Thanksgiving, boys and girls.

I dunno. My experience has been that there's some honeys who dig it.

1) The winning team..................USF 2) The final score.......................USF 31 - CLT 17 3) Bulls leading rusher...............Wright 4) Bulls leading receiver............Brown 5) Bulls total offensive yards (closest without going over).....433 ... I am not in the mood to be disappointed.

One of those venues would be Rowdy Dowdy against our good friends the East Carolina Pirates. How would I know such a thing? 'Cause I was there for 40% of those wins.

Can't come up with anything that would be as remotely embarrassing as to see someone rush the field in celebration of making the absolute, rock-bottom, bare-minimum requirement for post season play over a team that, should we win, will have tallied a grand total of three wins this season. That being said, pretty sure the OP was in jest...or at least hoping it was.

TEXT INTERCEPT: 21 NOV 23, 05:58 Eastern Time UNCLASSIFIED / LIMDIS / HVBPCO (Handle Via Bulls Pen Channels Only) 01: I’d love to see USF just short of bowl eligibility. They were by far the most obnoxious fan base when we joined the AAC 02: They are nowhere near as bad as Memphis fans. 03: True, but Memphis actually has winning teams. Usf had like 5 teams with winning records last year and one was sailing. 04: clt says biff needs to tell him not to chew gum during press conferences END TRANSCRIPT 11/21/23 @ 09:24 Eastern. Burn after 25 NOV 23.

Given our money-grubbing ways, I grasp that the UCF-USF bowel bowl game would be a positive when it comes to participation. It's a convenient drive over, there's history, etc. That being said, I'd rather not contend with UCF. To be honest, a little bit of UCF goes a long way. I'd much rather travel to a bowl game that requires checked baggage against a team we've never played. Next best option would be a drivable bowl game against a team we've never played. When we get down to the third option, it would be the Gasparilla Bowl - against anyone but the Imaginary National Champion, UCF. You could argue that any bowl game is better than none, but I have no interest in UCF.

I'm only reporting the facts. That or I'm just making up **** designed to incite the hoi polloi into a blind frenzy. It's one of those. I get them confused all the time.

Yes, this will be the second time UCF has been declared National Champions. Once in the actual playoffs, and once as winners in the Imagination Bowl.

I dunno. If we're reaching that far into the way-back machine, we need to think in terms of what constitutes a rivalry. We're one-and-one with Jimmy Mads, and that goes back to 2000...twenty-three years ago. Not sure I'd paint them with the rivalry brush. If we do, we might as well include San Diego State, Ball State or Middle Tennessee. Now that I think about it, we could add Southern Miss to the rivalry list.

Embrace it. This is your future. And whether you like it or not, FAU is our huge, giant, enormous In-State rival, and Charlotte is our new overall conference rival. Go team! Beat the Fightin' Biffs!

I think UCF defeats Houston and goes bowling.

I agree with West Virginia football, Charlotte Basketball and the heralded 'War on I-4 (unless lanes are blocked, then you can take 92 westbound to 17). Other than those three, I don't think there's real 'rivalry' material - if we're just excluding conference opponents.

I see nothing wrong with this. It's not a case of some underhanded, back-stabbing, double-dealing covert plan to overthrow the program. It's a simple case of who wants it more and who is putting in the heavy lifting. I don't interpret this as xCJL being a fan, so much as providing an objective analysis of how thing developed. Would it have been nice to develop in parallel? Maybe. But there can be no question as to how UCF appeared more valuable when putting together the expansion spreadsheet.