The Charlotte 49ers agreed to join Conference USA back in April 2012 but with the demise of the UAB Football program, the 49ers joining for the 2015 season makes it easier for schedulers with one team leaving and one team joining. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte went from having no football program to competing in Division 1 football in the shortest possible time allowed by the NCAA.
Charlotte 49ers join the FBS
The 49ers have gone 5-6 through both of their seasons in the FCS since forming but did lose two games in overtime in 2014. Although they’ve never played a Division I school before. So this isn’t a program that’s expected to instantly be competitive in their conference like Georgia Southern was last year (Georgia Southern won the Sun Belt and came close to upset victories over NC State and Georgia Tech in their inaugural season in the FBS). It may take a few years of development and improved recruiting for them to move into the top half of Conference USA which features some strong programs like Marshall, Rice and Western Kentucky.
Head Coach Brad Lambert has plenty of experience at the top level of college football having held assistant coaching jobs at places like Oklahoma and Georgia as well as being defensive co-ordinator for Wake Forest for three years. He took the head coaching job in Charlotte in 2012 ahead of the program restarting football again in 2013, he is currently has a 10-12 record with the 49ers.
For the 2015 season they have a reasonably tough schedule as they face Kentucky from the SEC on the road and Temple from the AAC at home. They also face Presbyterian from the FCS and Georgia State to complete their out of conference which gives them two much more winnable games. Only at the end of the season do they face two straight road games as they go from a game at Kentucky to a conference game against Rice. Their conference schedule sees them face only two teams with winning records in 2014 in Rice and Marshall so there is a good opportunity for them to win a couple in their new conference.
As agreed with the NCAA, the 49ers won’t be bowl eligible in 2015 but will be eligible from the 2016 season. Looking at the talent on the field it’s unlikely they’d be reach six wins to become bowl eligible in 2015 but the potential is certainly there to build a successful program over time.
