CHARLOTTE — Brad Lambert had a simple message for his team coming off its 20-13 loss at Elon last week.
“My message to the team afterwards was we just have to clean things up,” head coach Brad Lambert said. “We had too many penalties, and we just made too many mistakes, especially offensively.
“We turned the ball over too many times. You can’t turn it over four times. It’s kind of like (North Carolina) Central the year before when we turned the ball over seven times. It’s just hard to overcome that.”
The 49ers fumbled on the second play of scrimmage when, on a handoff, running back Kalif Phillips knocked the ball out of quarterback Matt Johnson’s hands. Elon started its drive on the Charlotte 25, but kicker John Gallagher missed a 50-yard field goal to keep the game scoreless.
Johnson’s troubles continued as he was intercepted three times. The Phoenix, however, failed to convert any of those turnovers into points.
Charlotte can’t count on that to happen Saturday. The 49ers (3-1) line up against Charleston Southern, ranked No. 25 in the Football Championship Subdivision coaches poll, in a noon game at Richardson Stadium.
“They execute pretty well, and them having seniors is a pretty good advantage for them,” Lambert said.
Another thing the Buccaneers have going for them is their option offense. They ran over Charlotte’s defense last year on the way to 548 rushing yards in a 36-14 win.
Charleston Southern is led on the ground by running back Christian Reyes. He averages a team-high 47.8 yards per game and has one rushing touchdown in four games.
“He runs really hard, and he’s really tough to bring down,” linebacker Nico Alcade said. “The thing about their offense is it’s assignment football. Everyone has to be on their.”
Through four games, Charleston Southern averages 185.8 yards per game and has 10 rushing touchdowns. Through four games, the 49ers’ defense is surrendering just 80.5 rushing yards per game and allowed only one rushing touchdown.
That same level of execution is needed on the offensive side of the ball as well.
“When we get our chance, we’ll take our shot, and we got to make them pay off,” Lambert said. “[The 49ers need to] just play our game offensively; get on a rhythm, get first downs. That’s what we’re looking to do. No question.”
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