Charlotte faces toughest home battle yet on Halloween

CHARLOTTE ATHLETICS

The Charlotte 49ers will host Tulane on national television for a Halloween night game before what coach Biff Poggi hopes will be a raucous partisan crowd.

The Charlotte 49ers are home for the first time since Oct. 5 with a tall task.

They welcome Tulane to Jerry Richardson Stadium on Halloween night in front of what head coach Biff Poggi hopes is a raucous crowd.

“I can't wait for our students to come out,” he said. “It's Halloween. I can't wait to see what they look like and how many of them show up. It will be hilarious. I would love it to be a stadium mostly full of those people, but it’s going to be a great night for football in Charlotte.”

The 49ers are 16.5-point underdogs to Tulane and the Green Wave’s physicality is similar to Indiana, which the 49ers struggled to handle.

“I'll say it this way,” Poggi said, “I think the two best teams we will have played on our [schedule] this year, and we've played some good ones, are Indiana and Tulane. And I'm not saying that in any particular order, because Tulane almost beat K-State.”

Tulane is unique in that they excel at not just one thing.

Running back Makhi Hughes averages 117.4 rushing yards per game with nine touchdown runs as one of the toughest backs to take down in the AAC. Hughes has also proven a capable receiver out of the backfield.

Poggi also speaks highly of Tulane redshirt freshman quarterback Darian Mensah, who has over 1,500 yards passing with 14 touchdowns and just three interceptions.

“First of all, he is a big kid” at 6-3 and 200 pounds, Poggi said. “He is a really good runner, but he is also an equally good passer. He’s got a very strong arm and he can extend plays with his feet if you have them covered. So, you have to cover guys longer than you normally want to cover guys, which has been a problem for us. He will pull it and run enough to hurt you, but he is a quarterback, and he wants to throw it when he gets the chance. And he has done a hell of a job. He is a smart kid and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. [Tulane] has a good one there.”

Poggi acknowledges the challenges of digesting the loss at Memphis quickly and preparing for Tulane on a short week. But he thinks the players have responded well.

“Because it is a short week, we had to change [the practice schedule],” Poggi said. “We had a longer practice than usual [on Monday]. So, I thought Monday was just OK. But I thought they were outstanding [Tuesday]. The team plays hard all the time and is physical all the time. I actually almost got put in the hospital today by Ositdinma [Ekwonu] when he went on a pass rush. I was writing something down on my tablet and looked up and his facemask was [right in my face] and was going really fast, but I survived. Today was a good day.”

ESPN’s “SportsCenter” will broadcast live from Charlotte’s campus before Thursday’s game, which adds to the hype.

“We’ve gotten a lot of national exposure the last year and a half and it is good for our school,” Poggi said. “It is good for our school’s public profile and good for our students. I think they think it is fun when all of the cameras are out and this will be the third week in a row that we are on national television. This will be the feature kind of game. It will be fun for our players too, but it’s important because when you are trying to build a team, you are not usually in the spotlight. You are normally out of it until you get built. We’ve been blessed because we’ve been in it, and it has helped with recruiting and things like that.”

Poggi said last week that the quarterback who has the best week of practice each week will earn the right to start but wouldn’t tip his hand who will start against Tulane.

“I won’t know until tomorrow,” Poggi said. “I will know after tomorrow’s practice actually. [Max Brown and Deshawn Purdie] have both had good weeks. Max has had the best week since being hurt. Purdie struggled a little bit, but not terribly.”

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