The 49ers were able to put up plenty of offense but struggled to contain Coastal Carolina’s high-powered attack in falling to the ranked Chanticleers 50-25 at Brooks Stadium in Conway.
Charlotte (4-5) put up more than 500 yards of offense. Kalif Phillips became the 49ers first-ever 100-yard rusher. Matt Johnson threw for 220 yards. But Coastal went one better, putting up 600-plus yards of offense, seeing two backs rush for more than 100 yards and a quarterback throwing for 237 yards. And Coastal won the turnover battle, 2-0, with both takeaways coming inside its 10-yard line to turn away 49ers’ scoring opportunities.
“Our guys were fighting with them toe-to-toe,” 49ers head coach Brad Lambert said. “We’ve just got to continue getting better. We didn’t get any turnovers today, which we’re accustomed to getting. That’s a little bit of a tribute to them. They haven’t turned it over much this year, and they didn’t today.”
Coastal tied a Big South record with its 7th straight game scoring at least 40 points, and Lorenzo Taliaferro tied a Big South record with his 21st rushing touchdown of the season.
This was the 49ers fourth game of their inaugural season against an FCS ranked opponent. Charlotte is 1-3 in those games. The two teams combined for 1,122 yards of total offense, including 665 on the ground.
Charlotte returns home, Saturday, to face Wesley College in the 49ers final home game of the team's inaugural season.