The Eastern Michigan faithful will get to watch their school’s team compete at home for their opening day contest against the Charlotte 49ers. The non-conference match-up will go down in Ysplanti, Michigan on Friday, September 1st at 6:30 p.m. EST. The contest can be seen on the ESPN3 Network. Heading into the match-up, the Eagles are -14 point favorites and the game’s over/under is 56.5 points.
Last year, the two universities met up in Charlotte. In that battle, the Eastern Michigan Eagles bested the 49ers by the score of 37-19. A week later, the Eagles got dismantled by Missouri but it was clear that this team was a lot different than the one that took the field in 2015.
The Eagles went on to win seven games and went bowling for the first time since 1987. Now, head coach Chris Creighton has 16 starters back. More importantly, the Eagles will have one of the MAC’s best quarterbacks in Brogan Roback. Even so, there are still plenty of questions along the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
Charlotte also doubled their win total last season compared to 2015. That’s pretty impressive considering it was only the 49ers’ second season in the FBS and as a member of Conference USA.
In 2017, head coach Brad Lambert’s goal is to keep that momentum going. To do that, he will have to replace the core group of players that he first recruited before moving up to the big leagues.
Charlotte 49ers
A year ago, the 49ers season didn’t finish off the way they hoped it would. Charlotte lost their final three games and ended the season at 4-8. Along the way, they did manage to find themselves a quarterback.
After earning his way into the starting roll half way through the season, Hasaan Klugh made the job his own. He’s back for another go after tossing for over 1,300 yards with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions.
Hasaan Klugh has proven talent at the wide out positions to help him in his starting roll. They are led by senior T.L. Ford and junior Workpeh Kofa. Ford reeled in 36 passes for 430 yards and four scores.
Workpeh Kofa also produced, catching another 27 balls for almost 330 yards and five touchdowns. The one set back is that neither Ford nor Kofa averaged more than 12.2 yards per reception. Obviously, a deep threat needs to emerge.
One huge hole to fill on offense is at the running back position. This is due to the departure of All-Conference USA pick Kalif Phillips. In 2016, Phillips rushed for over 900 yards and four touchdowns. Charlotte is hoping sophomore tail backs Robert Washington and Benny LeMay can fill the void.
Defensively, the 49ers ranked 35th in the nation against the run (143 ypg). To their dismay, two-thirds of last season’s solid defensive front have moved on. Senior run stopper Karrington King will have to pick up the slack from the departure of Nick Cook. Cook led the Charlotte defense in tackles and tackles for loss in 2016.
The Charlotte 49ers also gave up 309.8 yards per game through the air last year (124th). Improvement in the secondary will be the focus heading into the match-up against the Eastern Michigan Eagles on Friday.
Eastern Michigan Eagles
Quarterback Brogan Roback has 34 starts under his belt for the Eagles heading into this year. He is confident after he took his game to another level in 2016. Roback threw for for 2,694 yards and 18 touchdowns with only seven picks in 10 games. He was officially suspended to begin the season, which he used as motivation to get his game flowing in the right direction.
A huge boost for the Eagle’s offense comes in the form of running back Shaq Vann. Vann is back from injury and looks to lead the Eagles powerful rushing attack. In his absence, tail backs Ian Erickson and Breck Turner filled in quite nicely. Together, the the two runners compiled almost 1,200 yards rushing and 13 trips to pay-dirt. All three will be healthy and raring to go for Eastern Michigan on Friday.
Senior wide receiver Sergio Bailey returns as Eastern Michigan’s leading pass catcher. Last season, he caught 60 passes for 868 yards and seven scores. Also,wide out Dieuly Aristilde came out of the blue and cemented himself as Roback’s go-to-guy. He only caught one pass for 20 yards at the half way point of the season. In the next five games, he snatched 24 balls from the sky for 472 yards and five touchdowns.
The Eagle’s defense wasn’t anything to write home to mom about. They also weren’t all that bad either. Eastern Michigan finished 58th in the country against the run and allowed just under 30 points a game (76th). Finding a pass rusher to replace the graduated Pat O’Connor will be the challenge. In 2016, he had 8.5 sacks and 14.5 tackles for a loss.
Prediction
Las Vegas has the Charlotte 49ers as 14 point under dogs to open their season in Eastern Michigan. Although they doubled their win total to four from 2015, this could be a year that they won’t make that next step forward.
The 49ers strength, their front four, were depleted. That is bad news facing a team like the Eagles that are going to try to run the ball down your throat. Coming into this game, Eastern Michigan has three capable running backs to do just that. Adding to that, the Eagles’ quarterback is familiar with his targets and should keep them balanced on offense.
I do think the Charlotte will exploit some weaknesses in the Eastern Michigan defense but that will not be enough to keep up with them for four quarters. Take the Eagles to cover the -14.
The over/under sits at 56.5 That’s pretty much right where their 2016’s total came in at. This time around, the 49ers don’t have an established running attack. Because of that, I don’t like their chances to keep up with Eastern Michigan for four quarters. I’m staying off this total. Eastern Michigan 34-17 over Charlotte.
Trends
The 49ers are 6-14-2 ATS in their last 22 games overall.
The 49ers are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 non-conference games.
The Over is 4-1 in the 49ers last 5 non-conference games.
The Under is 5-2 in the 49ers last 7 games overall.
The Eagles are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 non-conference games.
The Eagles are 9-2 ATS in their last 11 games overall.
The Under is 5-0 in Eagles last 5 home games.
The Under is 9-2 in Eagles last 11 games overall.
The getmoresports.com NCAA College Football Throwdown Podcast will be returning to the air on August 24th. We will be highlighting the first five games on August 26th of the 2017 NCAA College Football season. That will be the first of three installments leading into the first week of the season. We also we will be covering our expectations for the Heisman Trophy front runners as well as predictions for conference winners and team totals.
Our second NCAA College Football Throwdown is penciled in for August 29th. In that installment, we will be discussing all the games that will be played on August 31st and the 1st of September.
Our third segment will officially be airing on August 31st. In this edition of the NCAA College Football Throwdown, we will be covering all the relevant games for Sept 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.
