Scot Loeffler Monday Press Conference Transcript (Akron Game)

Scot Loeffler Press Conference
Oct. 4, 2021
Bowling Green, Ohio

LOEFFLER: Thanks for coming, appreciate it. After watching the tape from this weekend, there was a lot of positive strides that took place. There was a lot of learning moments, and when you watch the tape, you see that we're capable, but you also see that we had a ton of self-inflicted wounds. We need to correct those. The message to our team this week is urgency, attention to detail, and everything matters. That’s what championship teams do. At times we do that during the week, at times we don't. That's why we're having inconsistent results during the game. At times we do some things that are really impressive. And at times, we do some things that cause self-implosion. So, we're going to coach these young guys, really hard. I told our team, we need to take the next step in these next 53 days that we took from January to August. The message to our team, last January, is that we had to change our ways, we did. That’s why we're having some positive results. However, they're not championship ways yet, they’re not elite ways yet. With time and maturity and us coaching them 24/7, we're going to get to where we want to go. It's part of the process, sometimes the process is extremely frustrating for all, but it is the process, and we kind of know how to do things. And now we need to start figuring out the next 53 days. And then obviously in January, through August of next year, really polish up what championship teams do day in and day out.

QUESTION: What short-term expectations do you have for your offense going into Akron?
LOEFFLER: I hope to be able to run it better. We got in a situation that this was a team that we played last week was a high-powered offense, and we had to try to keep up with. There were some times in the second half we should have ran it a few more times. In those situations, we got to do what we do well, and right now it's Matt throwing the football to these wide receivers. Trust me, there's nothing harder than calling a game like that. It's uncomfortable. It's not how we were trained to win football games. We’re trained to run the football, play-action pass and obviously your passing game needs to be efficient to handle the zone pressures. All the pressures that occurred to stop the running game, but we're going to keep working on it, keep trying, and hopefully, in the next 53 days we've made some progress. Will we be where we want to be? I don't know. But we need to make progress and we need to keep moving the needle of the program.

QUESTION: What have you seen differently from the defense from last year to this year?
LOEFFLER: Older, more urgent, still not elite yet. But you see a lot more positive things going on during the week. Winning is so hard, it's ridiculous. If you're not going to study table, you're not going to train, you're not doing all the little things they always catch it. And it's teaching our guys from day to day, that everything matters. Discipline matters. Coming in and having a center-quarterback exchange should be as urgent as playing on Saturday. And that's where we still need to go. At times, we think the little things aren’t important. That's why we're a little inconsistent right now.

QUESTION: How much does it help you being back home?
LOEFFLER:I’m glad we’re back home. This week we need to have the best preparation we've ever had. I challenged our team. We're not going to learn overnight. Day to day, just try to keep upgrading and keep moving that needle of elite actions during the week to get rid of these self-inflicted wounds. I think the most positive thing that came out of Saturday was they watched the tape, and they saw those wounds, and they're buying into the process because they see that it works in terms of their having some success. Now they realize, okay, every single thing does matter. That's what mature or teams do and just like I said, I love this crew. I love this group of coaches, I love this group of players, and we just got to keep teaching, keep parenting and keep moving the needle.

QUESTION: How reassuring is it for you that they recognize those mistakes and they're willing to learn and get better?
LOEFFLER: Yeah, we've got people right now, which was really important that they care. Losing sucks, it matters to them. Anytime that you have people that care, you're going to be willing to change and do whatever they need to do to keep moving on. We figured that out in January, we had people that cared. We have moved the needle, we have changed our habits, but again, I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but the more I can have my players here, how important those elite actions are. I'm going to keep telling you guys how important it is.

QUESTION: WHAT DO YOU SEE IN AKRON?
LOEFFLER: They're just like us, extremely capable. You know, it's going to be the team that comes in here and makes the fewest mistakes, but they're just like us. They're fighting, they're trying to change, rebuild culture, and all that, it doesn't happen overnight. And it's going to be who cares more, in my opinion, it's going to be, who cares more about preparation during the week, who cares more about doing the little things. After your preparation, you get out here and turn it loose and give it your all. The team that makes fewer mistakes will win this game.

QUESTION: CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THE SENSE OF URGENCY?
LOEFFLER: Yeah, it’s everything. When you're through a walkthrough and you're supposed to be pulling to block the end man on the line of scrimmage and you're standing straight up, and you're not in a great football position, that's not urgency. Everything needs to be perfect, urgent. And it all tapers to not beating yourself. Whenever you don't have that urgency, there's a couple of times you've watched point of attack problems. And we're standing straight up. Our hand placement isn't where it needs to be, our hat placement isn't where it needs to be. And those habits, every single thing from a silly walkthrough to inside drill. You’re trying to train yourself that you don’t have to think about those habits it’s coming naturally. It's a repetitive deal. At times we do a great job with it and at times we don't. On defense, same thing, we're a better tackling team right now. And we didn't tackle well last week, plain and simple. You saw it out here, our body position stunk, we didn't thud the football the way that we have been, we didn't put our body in position to break down in a great football position, and it caught up with us. I’ve been around those teams and those great players and urgency, and that's what we're going to get with our team here soon. It's not going to happen overnight, but we're going to work like hell to get over the top. As soon as we get that down, we’ll be pretty good football team.

QUESTION: IS THAT CONCEPT OF URGENCY SOMETHING THAT GROWS WITH EXPERIENCE?
LOEFFLER: Yeah, all of a sudden you do figure out that everything matters. Right now, they kind of get it. And then when you get older, it's kind of like whenever you're with your parents. When you leave for college, all a sudden, you go, ‘that's why mom and dad made me do this and made me act this way and made me do things this way.’ You figure things out when you get older, and then whenever you get in your 30s and 40s and get your own kids you really go, ‘that's why they made the act the way they did, so I can help my kids.’ Then the other thing with age is, you realize real quick, it's going to be over. Whenever you look down and you see 10 games left in your career, being urgent is pretty important. That's why these teams that are older generally win.

QUESTION: BEING A NATIVE OF THE AKRON AREA, THIS MAGIC A LITTLE BIT MORE OF A PERSONAL STAKE FOR YOU?
LOEFFLER: You know what, no. Every opponent, doing this as long as we've done this, doesn't matter if you're playing Michigan, a I-AA team, your preparation doesn't change, your mindset doesn't change. You work really hard during that week to give your kids a chance. To answer your question, no.

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