UNC Matches Up Against Familiar Faces in Road Game at Charlotte

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Coming off a season-opening beatdown suffered earlier in the week, North Carolina faces Charlotte on a short turnaround Saturday night at Richardson Stadium, with the matchup marking coach Bill Belichick’s first college road game.

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It shapes up as a potential get-right game for UNC, and will be the second all-time meeting between the Tar Heels and 49ers after last season’s 38-20 victory for Carolina. Charlotte’s roster features five former Tar Heels who have become transfer portal additions — quarterback Conner Harrell, defensive end Curtis Simpson, kicker Liam Boyd, defensive back Ja’Qurious Conley and receiver Justin Olson. But only Harrell and Boyd played for UNC against the 49ers last season.

Last week, Charlotte lost 34-11 to Appalachian State in its season opener at Bank of America Stadium, the home of the Carolina Panthers. The 49ers led 3-0 into the second quarter on Boyd’s 42-yard field goal, before falling behind 27-3 as the Mountaineers began to roll on offense. App State dwarfed Charlotte 586-218 in total yards on the night, while accumulating 6.7 yards per play.

This year marks the 13th season of Charlotte’s football rebirth, following the program’s reinstatement in 2013 after the school discontinued the sport in 1949 for a hiatus of nearly 65 years. The 49ers competed as an FCS independent for the first two seasons after restarting the program, before moving up to the FBS level in 2015.

Charlotte is under new coach Tim Albin, after Biff Poggi was fired in November before his second season was finished. Albin arrived at Charlotte after 20 seasons at Ohio, the last four of which he spent as head coach while leading the Bobcats to a 33-19 record. The 49ers joined the American Athletic Conference in 2023, and have finished in 12th and eighth in the league standings across the last two seasons. Charlotte went 5-7 overall last season and only has recorded one season (2019) with a winning record since reinstating the program.

The Tar Heels are the fourth FBS program in the state to play a road game at Charlotte, joining App State, Duke and East Carolina. Duke’s only visit to Richardson Stadium opened the 2021 season, and produced Charlotte’s only defeat of an opponent from a power conference in program history. Here are more key areas of note on the 49ers.

Former Tar Heel Faces Tar Heels

The dual-threat Harrell committed to Charlotte during the winter transfer portal window, and makes for a particularly familiar face at quarterback for the 49ers. He started two games under center for Carolina early last season, filling in for the injured Max Johnson, before Jacolby Criswell claimed the starting job for the remainder of the season.

Last September, Harrell threw for a career-high 219 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 39 yards and another score as the Tar Heels beat Charlotte at Kenan Stadium. He finished the season 21-of-37 passing for 282 yards in six appearances. He spent three seasons in UNC’s program, under former coach Mack Brown.

Harrell went 13-for-24 for 142 passing yards with a touchdown and interception against App State in the season-opening loss last week. He left the game for one series in the second half due to cramping.

“Dynamic quarterback who can threaten us multiple ways and does a good job controlling the offense,” UNC defensive backs coach Brian Belichick said of Harrell on Wednesday. “We’ve got our hands full. We need to handle a lot of different things they can do. I’ve leaned on and appreciate and respect the feedback I get from the guys who’ve been here and know him.”

Given the uncertainty of Gio Lopez’s back injury from Monday night’s season opener, a potential quarterback matchup between Johnson and Harrell could be in store for Saturday. The two battled for the starting spot during the 2024 preseason, with Johnson beating out Harrell for the job.

Charlotte Features Dangerous Return Man

During Bill Belichick’s opening comments to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, the first distinction he made about Charlotte’s team wasn’t on the offensive or defensive sides of the ball. Instead, he pointed to the 49ers’ special teams.

“They have a real explosive returner in (Henry) Rutledge,” Belichick said. “He probably is one of the best ones that we will face this year.”

The 5-foot-8 Rutledge, a fifth-year running back, returns kickoffs and punts for Charlotte as one of the team’s best playmakers. In 2023, he led the 49ers with 803 all-purpose yards, while setting a handful of school records (longest punt return, punt return yards in a game, punt return yards in a season, single-season punt and kick return yards). He topped the AAC in punt returns (11.9-yard average) and ranked No. 11 nationally in the FBS in combined return yardage.

Last season, he led the AAC with 605 yards on kickoff returns for 25.2 yards per return, an average that ranked among the top 25 returners nationally. He brought a kickoff back 79 yards at Navy. He also hauled in a 28-yard touchdown pass out of the backfield against UNC in the final five minutes of that game.

Neutralizing Rutledge in the kicking game figures to form a key for the Tar Heels on Saturday night. In the season-opening loss to TCU, Carolina kicker Rece Verhoff was 3-for-3 on kickoff touchbacks. But punter Tom Maginness averaged a less-impressive 39 yards on six boots, with a long of 51 yards.

Getting Right Back to Work

For the Tar Heels, a condensed game week allows the team to move on from Monday night’s disastrous performance faster than a typical weeklong period. The next two games, against a Group of Five opponent in Charlotte and FCS opponent in Richmond, likely afford UNC some time to work on the deficiencies that were exposed against TCU.

A get-right game of sorts against last season’s 122nd-ranked scoring defense in the FBS could be what Carolina needs to iron out its own offensive identity. The 49ers also finished 116th in yards allowed last season (433.2 per game). And they surrendered 586 total yards, including 404 yards through the air, to App State in last week’s season opener at Bank of America Stadium.

UNC’s defensive front also should have the chance to start to establish a successful pass rush against a weaker offensive line. The 49ers conceded 34 sacks over 12 games last season, bad enough to rank 112th in college football.

“I think we’re all going to be anxious to play again,” Belichick said Wednesday. “It’s better than sitting around two weeks, feeling like we felt after that game (the loss to TCU). You’ve got to move on anyway, right? And we’ve moved on. We moved on yesterday. So here we are, it’s Charlotte. But we have to recognize what things need to change in order for the results to change.”