It helps to be located in a big metro area. Ask Charlotte, extended an invite to the AAC mainly because of its locale in the Queen City, the major hub of the Carolinas and on the verge of becoming an even bigger major league sports city whenever MLB decides to expand. Indeed, nothing this still relatively-nascent (just ten years old!) football program has done justifies its move up the college food chain from CUSA to a higher-profile American. Certainly not recently, including the latest faceplant to 3-9 a year ago which cost onetime up-and-coming head coach Will Healy his job before the season was complete. At some point soon the 49ers administration is also going to want to expand its current Jerry Richardson Stadium, which is comfy enough, but its 15,000-seat capacity is more suited for the CAA. Expansion plans are on the horizon, first with an upgrade to 30,000 seats, but not until demand warrants the investment...

Bruce Marshall's full breakdown of Charlotte's 2023 outlook, which includes how he's playing their win total, can be found below as part of SportsLine's preview of the AAC season.

AAC preview: Conference winner | Charlotte | East Carolina | Florida Atlantic | Memphis | Navy | North Texas | Rice | SMU | South Florida | Temple | Tulane | Tulsa | UAB | UTSA

2023 Charlotte at a glance

• Last Year: 3-9 SU, 8-7-1 ATS, 6-6 O/U
• Returning starters: Offense 5; Defense 5
• Win total: 3 (Over -140, Under +110)

What do you need to know about Charlotte before locking in your AAC futures bets? And which side of their win total makes for the best play? ... Join SportsLine right now to see AAC futures betting strategy from a veteran college football expert!