Henry Rutledge carried the ball three times for 14 yards against Louisiana. He was the only back to record any rushing yardage, and Khamani Alexander did not appear in the box score at all. The 49ers finished with 26 net rushing yards in a 34-7 home loss. Asked afterward why his back had touched the ball three times, Tim Albin said, "I'm not sure on it. I don't know if it was an injury, I don't think so. At this time, I just don't have that information."
Charlotte's backfield was supposed to be a committee. Albin used the word himself in September, after saying Chance Williams was no longer on the football team and declining to explain why, having handed the ball to four different tailbacks at Ole Miss. A month later the committee is one back with three carries and a head coach without an explanation. Whatever the Memphis game turns into, the first concrete thing Charlotte fans can look for is simply how many running backs get the ball, and whether Albin has an answer for why.
The rest of Friday night was the same offense fans have watched for four weeks. Charlotte was shut out, not crossing midfield until 8:18 remained in the fourth quarter, as Cole Gonzales went 9-for-16 for 68 yards with an interception before Conner Harrell replaced him in the fourth quarter. Albin's summary afterward, "We've been one-dimensional for two weeks in a row", undersells the trend line. Back in the opener against The Citadel, Gonzales completed 28 of 41 passes for 322 yards and three touchdowns while Charlotte moved 538 yards on 74 plays and converted 11 of 17 third downs. That version of this offense existed a month ago. Nothing since has resembled it.
The Harrell question, at least, got answered. Two weeks ago at App State, Gonzales took all 35 pass attempts and Harrell's box-score line was empty, with Albin saying beforehand that Gonzales was the starter and had earned it. Friday, Harrell came in because Gonzales was not moving the team. That is a real role, but it arrived as a substitution rather than a plan, and it produced nothing. The 49ers still didn't score on offense.
What makes all of this maddening is the unit that keeps holding up its end. Charlotte sacked Louisiana's quarterback three times, recorded 10 tackles for loss, got 11 tackles, 2.5 TFL and a forced fumble from linebacker Gavin Willis, and scored its only points when edge rusher Jaylon Johnson returned a fumble 53 yards. Then the offense turned the ball over four times, Gonzales's interception plus three lost fumbles, while Louisiana coughed up only one of its own three first-half fumbles. The defense has stopped being the problem. It just keeps getting nothing back.
This defense still has ground to make up. In the opener it allowed 268 net rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns, and Albin said his players missed tackles even when he called pressures and that The Citadel showed formations and a sprint-out quarterback run the defense had not seen and initially failed to line up against. Four weeks later the tackling and the yardage have both improved. Memphis is the first offense good enough to test whether the 49ers can recognize an unfamiliar formation and line up right the first time.
Memphis, Homecoming, and a number worth knowing
Memphis visits Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+, and this is the American Conference opener for both programs after each finished its non-conference slate. The Tigers went 3-1 and then had an open date in Week 4, so they arrive rested; sportsbooks set the over/under near 54.5 points, reflecting a wide gap in market expectations between the 3-1 Tigers and the winless 49ers. The simulation gives Charlotte a 14.5% chance to win and projects about 1.2 conference wins across the season. That is the honest frame. An upset here would be the best day of Albin's second year, not something the 49ers are owed.
It also happens to be Homecoming, presented by Harris Teeter, part of Niner Nation Week, which began Sunday, Sept. 27, with a full slate of events throughout the Queen City, built around a team that is winless four games into the season, on a 13-game losing streak under Albin. Nothing else on Saturday's national board moves Charlotte's season one way or the other, which means the whole week comes down to a full stadium and a football team that hasn't scored an offensive point in seven days.
A win is a genuine long shot. What the afternoon can reasonably deliver is evidence of a backfield with an identified starter and a real carry count, a first-quarter drive that crosses midfield, a defense that makes a rested Memphis offense work for its yards. Charlotte has already played four games in which the defense did its job and the offense wasted it. On Homecoming, the smallest sign that Albin has diagnosed his own running game would count for more than the scoreboard probably will.
Full projections and the rest of the week are in the interactive guide, and the model itself is explained in the methodology.