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    Thursday, December 26

    IU football game day: Charlotte at Indiana primer and prediction

    Mike SchumannBy IU Football 3 Comments
    Photo credit - IU Athletics

    Can Curt Cignetti become the first IU football head coach to begin his tenure in Bloomington 4-0?

    Indiana’s final nonconference tune-up comes against the Charlotte 49ers, and the Hoosiers are big favorites on their home field.

    Can they avoid a letdown after their massive road win at UCLA?

    Here’s everything you need to know about Indiana’s week four contest.

    CHARLOTTE (1-2) at INDIANA (3-0)

    • Kickoff:  Noon ET, Saturday
    • Location:  Bloomington, Ind., Memorial Stadium (52,626; field turf)
    • Television: BTN — Guy Haberman (pbp), Yogi Roth (analyst), Rhett Lewis (sideline)
    • Stream:  Fox Sports
    • Radio:  IU Football radio network
    • Odds:  Indiana is a 29-point favorite
    • Weather at kickoff:  82 degrees, partly cloudy, wind 3 mph, 2% chance of precipitation.
    • Series:  First meeting
    • The Coaches:
      • Curt Cignetti is in his first year as the head coach at IU.  He holds a 122-35 record in his 14th season as a college head coach.
      • Biff Poggi is 4-11 in his second season as head coach at Charlotte.

    IU Football Week Two Coverage:

    TALE OF THE TAPE 

    THE COMPLETE BIG TEN WEEK FOUR SLATE

    FRIDAY, SEPT. 20
    Illinois at Nebraska 8 p.m. FOX

    SATURDAY, SEPT. 21
    Charlotte at Indiana 12 p.m. Big Ten Network
    Villanova at Maryland 12 p.m. Big Ten Network
    Marshall at Ohio State 12 p.m. FOX
    USC at Michigan 3:30 p.m. CBS
    Kent State at Penn State 3:30 p.m. Big Ten Network
    Rutgers at Virginia Tech 3:30 p.m. ACC Network
    UCLA at LSU 3:30 p.m. ABC
    Northwestern at Washington 7 p.m. FS1
    Iowa at Minnesota 7:30 p.m. NBC
    Michigan State at Boston College 8 p.m. ACC Network
    Purdue at Oregon State 8:30 p.m. The CW

    CHARLOTTE 2024 RESULTS

    Aug 31 (Sat)   8:00 PM     Home   James Madison    Charlotte, N.C.   L 7-30 

Sep 7 (Sat)    3:30 PM     Away   North Carolina   Chapel Hill, N.C. L 20-38

Sep 14 (Sat)   6:00 PM     Home   Gardner-Webb     Charlotte, N.C.   W 27-26

    CHARLOTTE NOTES AND NUMBERS

    • Charlotte started a true freshman, Deshawn Purdie, at quarterback last week vs. Gardner-Webb for the first time  in program history. Purdie was one of just four true freshmen to start at quarterback this season joining Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola, Florida’s DJ Lagway, and San Diego State’s Danny O’Neil.

    • In injury relief for Purdie, Trexler Ivey rallied the 49ers from a 20-6 deficit to lead three-straight scoring drives and pull out the 27-26 victory. Among all passers with at least 12 attempts, Ivey’s 11-of-12 passing mark was the best completion percentage in school history.

    • Charlotte features on the nation’s most turned-over rosters in the country in 2024. 71 newcomers dot the roster in every position group and rank behind only Army (74) and North Texas (77) among total newcomers between their 2023 and 2024 rosters. The 49ers are tied with Colorado (44) for the most transfer additions in the country.

    • Starting defensive end Stone Handy transferred from Indiana.  He was preseason All-AAC according to Phil Steele (2nd Team), College Football Network (3rd), and Athlon Sports (3rd).  Handy had a sack and had two TFL out of three total tackles in the 2024 season opener against JMU.  He played for Indiana in 2021 after spending two seasons at Auburn.

    • Charlotte head coach Biff Poggi came from Michigan where he was associate head coach.  There he helped Michigan to an undefeated regular season in 2022 and back-to-back Big Ten Championships.

    PREDICTIONS

    Curt Cignetti has been warning all week Charlotte is a dangerous team.  We’re not so sure.

    TDH PREDICTION:  INDIANA 45  CHARLOTTE 10

    ESPN SP+ (Computer):  Indiana 40 Charlotte 11 (97% win probability)

    ESPN FPI (Computer):  Indiana has a 97.7% chance to win.

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