Last weekend saw most of the SEC and college football open their seasons against teams nobody was surprised lost by 30 points.
Ole Miss was one of the few outliers who didn’t follow that path and, in fact, was the only top 25 matchup of the entire weekend.
This weekend is different. There are major, heavyweight match ups this weekend. Most notably, No. 1 Ohio State heading south to face No. 4 Texas. It’s also different for No. 9 Ole Miss who is playing its early season cupcake game.
Charlotte comes to Oxford following a triple overtime loss to The Citadel after posting a 1-11 record in 2025. That’s not exactly the momentum the 49ers would want to bring into this game if it hopes to pull off a massive upset.
And, hey, who knows? Something crazy and unexpected could happen that results in Charlotte upsetting Ole Miss. They play the game for a reason after all, right?
Is it likely? No. What’s more likely is Charlotte keeping the score close for longer than any Ole Miss fan will be comfortable with. There’s a path for the 49ers to do that, but they need a few things to go their way.
Here are the three things that’ll decide how Saturday’s game goes.
Does Ole Miss have more coverage busts in the secondary?
“It doesn’t matter if you’re playing Louisville, Charlotte or Delta State. If you call three-cloud and they don’t roll to cloud, it’s going to be a touchdown. I don’t give a shit who you play.”
That was coach Pete Golding at his weekly press conference on Tuesday talking about keeping the team’s focus on Charlotte and not looking ahead to LSU. But the message applies.
If the type of coverage busts that led to Louisville scoring a 54-yard touchdown while down by 14 points late in the fourth quarter continue, Charlotte will make this game a lot less comfortable than anyone would like.
Gray Hardison at Red Cup Rebellion has an excellent breakdown of what went wrong on that particular play. Three defenders should’ve been in deep coverage, but only two were, leaving a wide open space for an easy touchdown.
Charlotte isn’t Louisville and the fact Ole Miss managed to avoid a loss should be evidence that Saturday’s outcome isn’t up for much debate.
But if safeties are playing down low when they should be up high, the 49ers might look more like the NFL version.
Can Charlotte tackle Ole Miss in space?
The 49ers’ defense just gave up 268 rushing yards and six touchdowns to The Citadel, an FCS opponent. Granted, The Citadel has a unique offensive scheme based on the option offense but some things, like tackling, translate no matter the scheme or team a defense is facing.
If you can’t tackle one offense, you’re going to struggle to tackle most offenses. And this Saturday’s offense will be a lot better than the one Charlotte faced last weekend.
“We know we’re going to see better, so we’re going to have some challenges with guys in space,” Charlotte coach Tim Albin said earlier this week. “We don’t think it’s conditioning, but we normally do our tackling technique and tackling circuit early in practice. We’re going to move it toward the end, after they’ve gone through a practice, and see if that helps. When you face the types of athletes we’re going to see this week, you have to be perfect technique-wise and they’re still really good players, so it’ll be a huge challenge.”
If that doesn’t work for the 49ers, Ole Miss may not even need Kewan Lacy to suit up.
Can Charlotte’s offensive line handle Ole Miss’ defensive front?
Against The Citadel, Charlotte’s revamped offensive line held up well. The offense ran for 216 yards and quarterback Cole Gonzales was sacked just one time. Led by former Penn State lineman J’Ven Williams, the offensive line has gotten better.
But can it handle the defensive front Ole Miss will put on the field? Can the 49ers block Kam Franklin, Will Echoles, Jeheim Oatis, Michai Boireau, Jamarious Brown, Suntarine Perkins, Blake Purchase or Jonathan Maldonado on a consistent basis?
Gonzales showed some ability to be a dangerous threat behind center. But those things will be a lot harder to do if he’s running away from defenders after one step.
