Biff Poggi: Never more proud of a team than Charlotte 49ers football despite loss at USF

The Charlotte 49ers’ season finale was a microcosm of Biff Poggi’s first year as head coach. Walk-ons making mistakes, injuries at nearly every position group, questionable coaching decisions, and troublesome offense — all resulting in a lopsided loss.

South Florida ran away with its senior night victory, utilizing 28 unanswered points and a record- breaking performance from quarterback Byrum Brown to roll Charlotte, 48-14, becoming bowl-eligible for the first time since 2018.

Brown, a North Carolina native and former finalist for the state’s 2021 Mr. Football award, broke the South Florida passing record with 3,078 yards on the season, including 296 combined yards and five touchdowns in the Bulls’ sixth victory of the season.

Charlotte’s defense, which had been a bright spot nearly all season, allowed six consecutive scoring drives from the Bulls’ offense, with coach Alex Golesh’s team pouring it on in the game’s final 30 minutes.

South Florida outgained Charlotte by 205 yards, moving the ball for over 500 yards of offense with an average of 7.3 yards per play. The 49ers’ offense didn’t add much, scoring the game’s opening points, totaling three interceptions, four turnovers on downs and five punts.

Despite the tough loss to conclude the season, Poggi stated that he’s more proud of this Charlotte team than any in his five-plus decades of football.

“This is my 55th year participating in football. I told the team that I’ve never been more proud of a team, win or lose, than I am of these guys tonight. We had 12 starters out. I think most kids would have packed it in. We fought until the bitter end, and I am really proud of the kids.”

The action in Tampa

Charlotte started the action with an opening drive touchdown, just their second of the season and first since Week 2 against Maryland, with Joachim Bangda finding the end zone for the fourth time this season. Following a successful opening drive, Charlotte “went away from the game plan,” according to Poggi.

“The opening drive, the plan was to be aggressive. And we did; we had a good game plan. We went away from the game plan in series three, four and five, and went back into the malaise we do where we run nothing but inside zone and short screen patterns to the tight ends,” said Poggi. “It’s exhausting, and we went back into that.”

Immediately following the opening drive score, Poggi elected to attempt an onside kick, which sailed out of bounds, giving the Bulls the ball with favorable field position. The 49ers’ defense would hold, with Demetrius Knight tipping Brown’s fourth-down attempt from Charlotte’s 1-yard line, resulting in a turnover on downs. Then, yet again, a questionable coaching decision reared its head.

Following the turnover on downs, Charlotte faced a fourth-and-1 from its own 10-yard line. Poggi elected to leave the offense on the field, trying to draw the Bulls offsides. But rather than burning a timeout and punting, the ball was snapped, and Trexler Ivey launched a deep ball down the 49ers’ sideline, which fell incomplete out of the reach of Jairus Mack — setting up the Bulls for a layup of a first touchdown.

It was all downhill from there.

Ivey would go on to toss two interceptions in the first half before being replaced by redshirt freshman Steven Johnson to start the second half. Going from walk-on to walk-on, Johnson flashed early, tossing a 47-yard touchdown to Mack and bringing Charlotte within two scores midway through the third quarter.

But before Charlotte could build on any of the momentum Johnson provided, South Florida added 10 straight points without the 49ers possessing the ball, connecting on a 22-yard field goal, recovering an onside kick, and adding another touchdown by Brown from 35 yards out.

“When Trexler made those mistakes, those mistakes were costly, and at that point, I had kind of had enough of him throwing the ball. So, I wanted to give Steven (Johnson) a shot and I wish we would’ve stuck to the game plan for more than the first series,” Poggi said. “(Johnson) got the No. 2 reps this week. (Johnson), as you see, has got a chance to be a good player and we wanted to get him some game reps before we get into the spring. Kind of get an idea of what we need to do in the portal. That was the strategy behind that.”

Johnson exited the game in the fourth quarter following a brutal hit, where he was knocked unconscious and helped off of the field.

“He got knocked out. It was like the Tua (Tagovailoa) thing, which means he took a pretty severe shot. He was out when the doctors got out there,” said Poggi. “He walked off. I went in the tent when he was in there, and he’s in a lot of pain. We’ll examine him more. Thank God he got up.”

What’s next for 49ers?

For the second consecutive season, the 49ers finished with a 3-9 record, 2-6 in conference play. The 49ers handled their FCS matchup with South Carolina State to open the season and scored road victories against Tulsa and East Carolina on the season.

Charlotte’s staff has talked extensively about revamping the roster with their incoming high school class and the transfer portal, and Poggi knows that Charlotte can’t compete in the American Athletic Conference without a quarterback moving forward.

“The guys that played today. The guys that got on the plane knowing that 12 starters were out — this team displayed toughness. And toughness is not physical or mental; it’s emotional. I’m very proud of them. Now, you can go so far with that,” Poggi said. “You have to have a quarterback and offensive lineman. Defensively, we’re going to add at pretty much every position because we’re going to lose guys. The interesting thing is that after this season, we have so many kids that want to come to Charlotte.

“We’ve got a really good incoming freshman recruiting class. In the next three weekends, we have 45 of the best junior college players in the country on our campus. As much as coaches get recognized, believe me, the players win games. We’ve got to get some players in the door, and we have to address the quarterback position. We have to address the defensive backfield and the interior defensive line. We just don’t have any depth,” Poggi continued. “We will map out the whole year going forward. We’ll map out the next 12 months — every day. What we’re going to do policy, procedure, scheme, hiring, every workout, every practice — everything. Then we’ll get to work on implementing it.”