Grading Charlotte’s blowout loss at Navy: Can Niners resolve quarterback issues?

A trip to Annapolis brought the Charlotte 49ers back down to earth on Saturday.

Following two weeks to celebrate a lopsided 31-point victory over in-state conference rival East Carolina, Charlotte was trounced by No. 25 Navy from the game’s opening drive, losing 51-17 and raising questions around the quarterback position, health, and preparation.

Coach Biff Poggi looked for the positives after the loss, highlighting Charlotte’s yardage total of 363, which outgained the Midshipmen’s 288. Poggi highlighted the 49ers’ 200 rushing yards, the advantage in first downs, and Charlotte’s effort.

But the reality is, Charlotte turned the ball over five times — eight including turnovers on downs — resulting in 31 points for Navy, including two pick-sixes that added insult to injury.

“Holding Navy to 288 (yards) is pretty good. But you cannot play a one-sided football game, and our offense did not give our defense any help,” Poggi said after the game.

While Navy’s 51 points on a sub-300-yard game are an intriguing stat, Charlotte’s turnover-happy offense allowed for the Midshipmen’s average drive to start on their own 44-yard line, needing just 56 yards a drive to find the endzone. And they did just that, scoring on their first five drives of the game and putting Charlotte’s upset hopes to bed in the first quarter.

“It was very frustrating. It was a very game important for us, and a game we thought we could win. To start that way — it was the last thing that any of us in our building thought (would happen),” said Poggi. “We worked all week on protecting the football. We came out of the gate with multiple turnovers. With all respect to Navy, we did a lot of beating ourselves tonight. In the locker room after the game, (the players) have a pretty big chip on their shoulder about it.”

With Charlotte (3-4, 2-1 AAC) dropping back below .500, here’s how Poggi’s team graded out in the loss.

49ers’ rushing offense

Following a monstrous performance on the ground against the Pirates, pouring in 307 rushing yards, Charlotte saw a disastrous start on the ground on Saturday.

Hahsaun Wilson, who just notched his second-career hat trick against ECU, fumbled on Charlotte’s first true tailback carry of the game, just one play after a brutal interception thrown by Max Brown. The offense imploded in the first quarter, turning the ball over on four consecutive possessions and failing to score in the first 20-plus minutes of game.

With Charlotte playing from behind the entirety of the evening, the rushing total of 200 yards is a bright spot. Max Brown led the way with 67 yards on 18 scrambles — far and away the most of any quarterback for Charlotte this season. Brown extended plays with his legs, had multiple opportunities in the designed quarterback run game, and ultimately took hit after hit in his first game back from a month-long absence.

Cartevious Norton had another solid outing, carrying for 59 yards on 16 carries, backed by Terron Kellman’s 45 yards on seven carries.

Charlotte rushed for 4.2 yards per carry as a team, with 102 of their 200 yards on the ground coming in the second quarter alone. It did seem that Charlotte found some offensive life before the half, scoring 10 straight points.

But even for a team that’s resurrected from multiple double-digit deficits for wins this season, spotting an extremely efficient and sound football team 38 points is nearly insurmountable.

Grade: C

49ers’ passing offense

Charlotte played two quarterbacks on Saturday, and 49er fans held their breath each and every time a signal-caller dropped back. Brown returned to the starting lineup following thumb surgery to his throwing hand, showing immediate signs of rust, according to Poggi.

“We turned the ball over too many times. I thought Max showed a lot of rust and showed what it looks like when you haven’t played in four and a half weeks,” Poggi said. “He really had trouble (pulling the trigger), and we had receivers open down the field multiple times.”

Brown tossed interceptions on his first two recorded passes, including a turnover directly to Navy linebacker Kyle Jacob, which set up the Midshipmen in Charlotte’s redzone. After two straight interceptions and a scoreless first quarter, third-string quarterback was inserted for Brown with DeShawn Purdie sidelined with injury.

Ivey completed his first pass to Sean Brown, and it was all downhill from there. Facing a 4th and 8, already trailing by 31 points, the Midshipmen sent a zero blitz, and a frazzled Ivey tossed an interception directly to Dashaun Peele, who easily identified the curl route and jumped it, taking the interception back to the endzone to pour on to the lopsided scoreboard. Following a 79-yard kick return from Henry Rutledge, Ivey’s final drive got Charlotte three points, stalling inside the redzone and settling for a 39-yard field goal from Stephen Rusnak.

Brown re-entered the game and showed some life for Charlotte, leading an eight-play, 84-yard drive with a 20-yard dime to O’Mega Blake in the corner of the endzone for the 49ers’ first touchdown. In his first game back, Brown’s game showed similarities to the Week 1 struggles against James Madison – a few good throws here and there, marred by questionable decisions and continuous turnovers.

Brown finished the game completing 39% of his passes for two touchdowns and three interceptions, all while under pressure on 35.7% of his dropbacks. Navy’s defense rattled Brown from the opening possession, but three of his five turnover-worthy plays came with a clean pocket, which is why Poggi will re-evaluate the quarterback position with Purdie on track to return next week.

“He’ll be ready to go with another week,” Poggi said of Purdie. “The reason he couldn’t play today was he has a brace on it. He just can’t catch a snap, but that will come off this week and then we’ll make a decision next week on who’s going to be the quarterback.”

Grade: D-

49ers’ rushing defense

While the statistics aren’t eye-popping, with Navy rushing for 171 yards at 4.1 yards per carry, Charlotte’s defense wasn’t ready for the Midshipmen’s speed early in the contest.

Navy fullback Alex Tecza kick-started the action with a 26-yard rush on the opening play and scored the game’s first points three plays later on a wide-open 46-yard catch and run without a 49er in the television broadcast frame.

And while the turnovers didn’t help Ryan Osborn’s defense, with four of Navy’s first five possessions starting in Charlotte’s territory, the 49ers failed to take the ball away and allowed a flawless 5-5 for the Midshipmen in the red zone.

Tecza averaged 8.5 yards per carry, pouring in 68 yards and two scores on just eight attempts. And quarterback Blake Horvath wasn’t far behind, carrying 13 times for 56 yards. Poggi praised Horvath after the game, coining him as a Heisman candidate.

Charlotte did force four three-and-outs and allowed just one offensive score in the second half — but the damage was done in the turnover battle.

Grade: D

49ers’ passing defense

80 of Navy’s 117 passing yards came in the opening quarter, and that was all the Midshipmen needed. When Navy did drop back, which only occurred 13 times, Charlotte wasn’t able to make plays on the ball.

Horvath completed seven of his 13 passes for 117 yards and three touchdowns, dealing all three scores to different receivers. Osborn drew up blitzes on 26% of Horvath’s dropbacks, but even when under pressure (33% of the time), the junior signal-caller tossed two of his three touchdowns.

Al-Ma’Hi Ali led Charlotte with a 78-coverage grade, according to PFF, followed by cornerback Elijah Culp at 71.5. Culp was targeted four times, resulting in 0 receptions, building on his monstrous game against East Carolina in Charlotte’s last game.

Safety Ja’Qurious Conley was ruled eligible before the game, allowing the North Carolina transfer to make his debut seven weeks into the season. Conley played 23 snaps in his return to action, registering one tackle.

It wasn’t close to the defensive performance Charlotte put on against the Midshipmen a season ago when they surrendered just 14 points, but with the offensive giving the ball away at will, it could’ve been worse.

Grade: D

49ers’ special teams

After starting his tenure with Charlotte with a three-yard shanked punt, Michael O’Shaughnessy reverted to the early-action struggles with a 13-yard shank on Charlotte’s first drive, giving the Midshipmen favorable field position yet again.

O’Shaughnessy had shown promise at times this season but was replaced by Bronson Long for the remainder of the game, who punted twice for an average of 33.5 yards — a long of 35 yards.

Returner Henry Rutledge nearly took one the distance early in the second quarter, setting up Charlotte’s first points — trailing 38-0 at the time. Navy’s kick coverage was dominant for much of the game, with Charlotte starting drives on their own 18-, 11-, and 20-yard lines early in the action.

Rutledge fielded multiple dangerous punts, and while not resulting in a turnover on special teams, the redshirt junior must make better decisions in that department.

Kicker Stephen Rusnak stayed perfect this season, adding his fifth make to score Charlotte’s first points.

To win this game, Charlotte was going to need to play nearly perfectly and have at least one swing play go their way on special teams. Charlotte got the big play with Rutledge, but too many errors proved costly.

Grade: C

Overall

It’s nearly impossible to win with five turnovers, let alone two pick-sixes, but Charlotte didn’t play well enough in any facet of the game to beat the well-oiled Midshipmen machine. Even with an extra week to prepare, the 49ers came out flat — and Poggi blamed the quarterback position.

“You cannot win if you don’t have good quarterback play, and we didn’t have it today. That’s just the truth,” Poggi said.

With matchups against two of the best in the conference up next, traveling to Memphis (6-1, 2-1 AAC) and hosting Tulane (5-2, 3-0 AAC) on Halloween, Charlotte must figure out the most important position on the field — and fast.

The 49ers gave Memphis an overtime scare a season ago and must find a way to punch first if they are to bounce back Saturday.

Grade: D-