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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/usffan on 2024-06-29 16:09:50+00:00.

You can find the start of this series with links to all teams here

We’ve now reached the stage of the previews where the question of “which coach would kick my coach’s ass” has to be considered relevant. For sure, a team coached by a guy named Biff who talks tough but doesn’t seem to have the ability to back it up (and presumably hates manure) seems destined to end up the villain (unless we’re in the alternate reality where he rises to the top). Neither preseason FPI (-10.6, ahead of only the service academies and Temple in the AAC) nor preseason Sagarin (52.74, penultimate in the conference) seem optimistic, and with only 54% of the productivity returning from a 3-9 team, Poggi’s going to need to have a significant talent infusion if he’s going to have the on field results back up his braggadocio. While the Niners 247 recruiting ratings seem fair (169.59, 74th nationally and 7th in conference), they were quite active in the transfer portal (30.75, good for 68th nationally and 4th in the conference), bringing in 28 new players (including 19 from P4 schools) but losing 29 (only 4 of which landed at P4 schools), suggesting Biff studied from the Deion Sanders playbook (which, let’s face it, is kind of on brand). Will they gel in time to see improvement? Here’s their 2024 schedule:

8/31 JAMES MADISON (L)

9/7 @ North Carolina (L)

9/14 GARDNER-WEBB (W)

9/21 @ Indiana (L)

9/28 @ Rice (L)

10/5 EAST CAROLINA (L, coin toss)

10/12 BYE

10/19 @ Navy (W, coin toss)

10/26 @ Memphis (L)

10/31 TULANE (L)

11/9 BYE

11/16 SOUTH FLORIDA (L, coin toss)

11/23 @ Florida Atlantic (L, coin toss)

11/30 UAB (L, coin toss)

Outlook While the 49ers are almost certainly going to be improved over last season, the schedule does them absolutely no favors, with 3 non-conference games where they figure to be more than a TD dog, plus playing 7 of the top 8 teams in the AAC’s preseason FPI. That home game against USF with 16 days to prepare sets up as a definite place where they could spring an upset, but if it comes after the team’s been eliminated from bowl contention, will the players still be buying in? The key will be game 1. If they manage to upset James Madison in Bob Chesney’s debut with the Dukes, they could build off of that. But if they’re 1-4 heading into their AAC home opener against the Pirates, it could start to get to a point where Biff’s tough talk starts to wear too thin. The latter seems more likely.