Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 123. Charlotte
49ers Mining for Gold on the East Coast
The Charlotte 49ers started their football program way back in 1946 before eventually…folding the team in 1949. Ironic. They’d return to the FCS in 2013 before moving up to the FBS in 2015, where they’ve spent the last eight seasons. They haven’t really had any success, making only one bowl game with the rest being losing seasons. Why are they not bottom 5? You can probably chalk that up to me being a San Francisco 49er fan. Have to look out for my fellow 49ers.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+-----------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+-----------+------+--------------+--------+
| 78 | Charlotte | 2019 | -15.095 | 7-6 |
| 99 | Charlotte | 2020 | -25.699 | 2-4 |
| 100 | Charlotte | 2018 | -27.659 | 5-7 |
| 103 | Charlotte | 2021 | -33.697 | 5-7 |
| 106 | Charlotte | 2016 | -37.586 | 4-8 |
| 123 | Charlotte | 2022 | -50.013 | 3-9 |
| 124 | Charlotte | 2015 | -61.035 | 2-10 |
| 125 | Charlotte | 2017 | -61.059 | 1-11 |
+------+-----------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: -5257.5756 (123rd)29-62 record
0 conference titles
0-1 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
5 NFL players drafted
“So what gives? 8 seasons with an average record of 4-8? UTEP and FIU won conference titles, for crying out loud!” I know, I know. The reason Charlotte is above those aforementioned teams is because they’ve have had some really bad years, whereas Charlotte has had down years, but not that bad. As a result, they’re a pretty innocuous new FBS team which is good enough to only be the 9th worst program in the last 40 years.
Top 5 Seasons
5. 2016 (4-8 overall, 3-5 Conference USA)
Just looking at player stats, you might not expect 2016 Charlotte to be a 4-8 team. QBs Hasaan Klugh, Kevin Olsen, and Matt Johnson combined for 17 TD to just 6 INT, and Charlotte had rushers of 907, 487, and 426 yards respectively from RB Kalif Phillips, RB Robert Washington, and Klugh. Defensively, four players recorded 3+ INTs, and DT Larry Ogunjobi recorded a double digit TFL season with 13.5. Picked 7th in their 7-team division, Charlotte would finish a respectable 5th, with wins over 2016 C-USA bottom feeders FAU and Marshall, and 7-6 Southern Miss. Ogunjobi would be drafted in the 3rd round after the season, and just signed a 3 year, $29 million contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason.
4. 2021 (5-7 overall, 3-5 Conference USA)
Expectations were somewhat high in Charlotte, as they were picked 4th in their division and expected to compete for a bowl. Led by QB Chris Reynolds, who returned for his 3rd season as a starter, the season started off with a bang, upsetting Duke at home for the 49ers’ first ever win over a Power 5 opponent. Funnily enough, Charlotte actually received a few top 25 votes in the National Coaches Poll after the win. The 49ers would move to 3-1 after alternating wins/losses against Gardner-Webb, Georgia State, and Middle Tennessee, setting up an intriguing road trip to Illinois to take on the Illini. Charlotte would fall 24-14 after getting shut out in the second half. Exchanging wins/losses would lead to a 5-4 record with three games to play, but they’d lose all three by two or more possessions as they also went from 3-2 in the C-USA to 3-5. Despite the disappointing end, WR Elijah Spencer was the C-USA Freshman of the Year with 381 receiving yards and 6 TD, and Reynolds had a great season throwing 26 TD to 9 INT.
3. 2018 (5-7 overall, 4-4 Conference USA)
Charlotte was coming off a 1-11 year, and there was much speculation that 6th year head coach Brad Lambert would be let go. Week 3 he’d make a statement win, in a game moved up 2 days because of Hurricane Florence, the 49ers bested Old Dominion 28-25 to improve to 2-1 and double last season’s win total. They kept trading wins until reaching a 4-4 record and 3-2 in-conference. They’d travel to Knoxville to grind out a disgusting, slogfest of a 14-3 loss to Tennessee, where the Volunteers only had 10 first downs and 192 yards in a microcosm of the Jeremy Pruitt era. Charlotte entered their final game at 4-7 facing 5-6 FAU, who was looking for a bowl bid. Kicker Jonathan Cruz played spoiler with a 56(!) yard FG to win for Charlotte with just 25 seconds left, and the 49ers left Boca Raton with a 27-24 win and a 5-7 final season record. Cruz would be voted 2nd Team All-CUSA, DE Alex Highsmith would be 1st team, and OG Nate Davis would be drafted in the 3rd round by the Chicago Bears in the 2019 NFL Draft.
2. 2020 (2-4 overall, 2-2 Conference USA)
Despite the 2-4 record and covid-shortened season, Charlotte showed some promise. They were coming off their best season in school history and returned their starting QB, top WR, and two 2020 preseason 1st team all-CUSA defenders. Losses to Appalachian State and FAU were excusable as both were very good G5 teams in 2020, and dominant wins over bowl team North Texas and UTEP showed what Charlotte was capable of. The season wouldn’t end well, with lots of cancelled/postponed games and blowout losses to Duke and Western Kentucky. LB Ben DeLuca would set the school record for career tackles in the season finale with 313, and it was the first Sunday game in program history (2020 was a weird year). All in all, a very “whatever” year that suggests that maybe I should treat 2020 differently compared to other seasons when ranking, as one could make a strong argument that 2020 was NOT Charlotte’s 2nd best season.
1. 2019 (7-6 overall, 5-3 Conference USA)
And finally, every team has their standout year. It all came together in 2019 for Charlotte who hired Will Healy from Austin Peay to become Charlotte’s 2nd head coach in 70 years. Healy won the 2017 FCS Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award, so the hire was seen as a steal. And oh, what a season it was. Media expectations are little to none in Charlotte, so they were picked 7th in the Conference USA East Division as usual. Things seemed to go according to plan as they begun with a 2-5 overall and 0-3 conference record. The season would literally take a turn in the final seconds of their game against North Texas. Facing their 5th loss in a row, QB Chris Reynolds uncorked a 40 yard bullet to the end zone for WR Victor Tucker, who boxed out his defender and came down with the TD to take a 39-38 lead with just 18 seconds left! The win would be the turning point for the Niners, as they would win their last four games by an average score of 31-19. They ended the regular season on a 5 game conference win streak, and may have been in the title hunt if they hadn’t started so slowly. They’d lose their bowl 31-9 to Buffalo, but the accolades came pouring in post-season. OL Cameron Clark, RB Benny LeMay, and DE Alex Highsmith were all 1st Team C-USA, with Highsmith also being voted 3rd Team All-American by the AP after having a 15 sack season. Highsmith and Clark would be drafted in the 3rd and 4th rounds, respectively, in the 2020 NFL Draft.
5th Quarter
Is Charlotte another one of those “sleeping giants”? Located in a big football city with the Panthers, they’re a 30,000+ enrollment university with great branding and some nice NFL talent coming through. We saw a west coast version of this with San Diego State floundering for years until good coaches came through and now the Aztecs are looking at a Pac-12 invite.
Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years - Main Hub
