FIU at Charlotte 10/17/20 - College Football Picks & Predictions

The Florida International Panthers will travel on the road to Jerry Richardson Stadium to take on the Charlotte 49ers. FIU has lost both of their opening games this season and are coming off a brutal loss to a bad Middle Tennesee team falling 31-28 and dropping to 0-2 on the season. Charlotte got into the win column with a decisive 49-21 win over North Texas and moved to 1-2 on the year.

Charlotte’s offense comes in averaging 28.7 points per game and gaining 427 yards per game led by junior quarterback Chris Reynolds, this is his third year as the 49ers starter and he’s gotten off to a slow start completing just 59.5% of his passes for 744 yards. Reynolds has tossed three touchdowns to two interceptions this season. 

Charlotte has the benefit of returning a two-time 1,000-yard rusher in senior Tre Harbison III, he’s rushing for 4.1 yards per carry and totaled 187 yards and three touchdowns this season. The leading receiver for Charlotte is Victor Tucker who has caught 13 balls for 177 yards but has yet to find the endzone.

Florida International is trotting out freshman Stone Norton who has been solid in limited action this season, he’s thrown just 18 passes but completed 12 of them for 141 yards and 2 touchdowns. Anchoring the run game for the Panthers is the tag team of D’vonte Price and Shaun Peterson Jr., they’ve combined for 451 yards and five touchdowns. Both are averaging over 6 yards per carry. 

Florida International is allowing 33.5 points per game and opposing teams have gained an average of 465.5 yards per game. Charlotte is allowing 435 total yards per game, 207 of those coming on the ground which will be an area where Florida International could expose by keeping their running backs fresh. Charlotte is allowing 25.7 points per game which ranks 5th in the Conference USA.