2017 MAC Football Preview: Charlotte 49ers @ Eastern Michigan Eagles

Friday night at Rynearson Stadium at 6:30P.M. EST, Eastern Michigan faces off against the Charlotte 49ers for the second time. Eastern Michigan currently leads the series with a record of 1-0 after last year’s defeat of the Charlotte 49ers by a score of 37-19. The 49ers are in their 5th year as a football team and 2nd year as a Division 1A football team.

The 49ers are led by Brad Lambert who is in this 5th year both as a coach and at the 49ers. He has a 16-30 overall record. The Eagles are led by Chris Creighton who is entering his 4th year as a coach with the Eagles where he’s had a 10-27 record.

Kenneth Bailey

When Charlotte has the ball:

The 49ers are led on offense by quarterback Hasaan Klugh. Last here he threw for 123 yards per game and found the end zone through the air 10 times. He presents a threat on the ground after netting 39 yards per game and finding the end zone ten times with his feet. He will be throwing to at least one of three receivers: TL Ford, Workpeh Kofa and Trent Bostick (who is new this year). The 49er rushing attack will feature Robert Washington and Benny LeMay. They will be facing an Eagles defense that showed considerable improvement on rushing defense last year. Although, it will be seen how much of an impact losing Pat O’Connor. They still have a pretty formidable defense in Kyle Rachwal, Jeremiah Harris and Vince Calhoun. Hopefully Jeremiah Harris will be able to find the quarterback more this year.

When the Eagles have the ball:

The Eagles will be led by senior quarterback Brogan Roback who had a pretty good year last year. He was able to throw for 269 yards per game and those throws landing in the endzone 18 times. The three receivers returning are Sergio Bailey (who I think should be in the top 30), Eddie Daugherty and Dieuly Aristilde. If these three improve upon last year’s stats, they should be fairly potent. The ground game will likely be led by Shaq Vann who looked like he was going to have a break out season until injury early in the season. He will be assisted by Breck Turner and Ian Eriksen. The question mark is of course on the offensive line. They will be facing a defense with linebacker Karrington King who is only 12 tackles away from being the 49er leading tackler. They also have Ben DuLuca and Harris who were All Conference USA freshmen last year.

Prediction:

I am going to predict a high scoring affair with the Eagles ultimately winning 38-21. If Eastern continues their improvement on defense, that could be a lower score on the other end. We’ll see.

Kenneth Bailey