The Florida Atlantic Owls will host the Charlotte 49ers on CBS Sports Network on Saturday in a season-opening Conference USA matchup. Overall, FAU has won the last three meetings head-to-head.
In 2021, the Owls went on the road and blew out the 49ers 38-9 as a six-point favorite. Charlotte actually led that game 9-7 at the half, but the Owls scored the game's final 31 points in the second half. The previous season in 2020, FAU beat Charlotte 21-17 as a five-point favorite.
According to the CUSA Media Poll, Charlotte is predicted to finish seventh out of 11 teams this season. DraftKings has the 49ers over/under win total set at 4.5 (-105).
In 2021 Charlotte finished the season 5-7 straight-up and 5-6-1 ATS. They were much better when favored going a perfect 4-0 against the spread. But when the 49ers were an underdog, like they will be on Saturday, they were 1-6-1 ATS in 2021.
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This season, Charlotte welcomes back 14 starters, eight on offense and six defensively. They were fifth in Conference USA averaging 404.1 yards per game last season, led with 253.7 passing yards per game. The scoring average of 27.2 ppg was good for ninth out of 14 teams last season. The defense allowed 465.9 yards per game which was second to last in CUSA, and the 39.7 ppg allowed was dead last.
Expect to start at quarterback is super senior Chris Reynolds. Reynolds has been in the 49ers program since 2017, when he redshirted, and saw his first game action in 2018. Last season Reynolds completed 63.9% of his passes for 2,680 yards with 26 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also ran for 174 yards and four touchdowns.
Reynolds also welcomes his top two targets back at wide receiver in Grant Dubose (62 catches, 892 yards, 6 TDs in 2021) and Victor Tucker (51 catches, 639 yards, 2 TDs)