Charlotte will be considerably less equipped than James Madison on Saturday.
49ers coach Biff Poggi said this week that his team could be without as many as nine of its 22 starters on both sides of the field for Charlotte’s season opener. And he blamed himself for the team having so many key players injured before the season, suggesting he pushed his players too hard in their preseason practices.
“I’m not very good at math, but it’s close to 50% (of starters),” Poggi said. “I feel really bad for those kids, but I know the young men who get a chance to play will play hard. And I take responsibility for that as the head football coach.
“When you start with JMU, a program that has gone 19-4 over the last two years, you get a little overzealous and you have to find a balance between how callous you want your players to be and getting them healthy. And I’m going with an F-minus on that.”
Poggi said he expected all players to be back by the time the conference season begins in late September against Rice. After the Week 1 game against James Madison, Charlotte travels to North Carolina before hosting FCS opponent Gardner-Webb in Week 3.
The 49ers will play at Indiana in Week 4 before they have eight American Athletic Conference games left to finish the season. Needless to say, it won’t be easy for the 49ers against a James Madison team that has been exceptional in both of its seasons at the highest level of college football and on the road against two powerful conference opponents. A 1-3 record seems like a reasonable outcome for Charlotte heading into conference play.
From there, Charlotte would need to pick up three more conference wins to improve on last season’s record. The 49ers went 3-9 in the former Michigan assistant’s first season in charge.