Scot Loeffler Monday Press Conference Transcript (Minnesota Game)

Scot Loeffler Press Conference
Sept. 20, 2021
Bowling Green, Ohio

LOEFFLER: Thank you for coming in this afternoon. We felt the second half of the previous game, versus Murray State, was kind of our best performance since we've been here. I thought we played complementary football, the offense had the ball for right around 12 minutes in the third quarter. The defense was outstanding. We still had some sputtered drives, we had some penalties, and a couple of times where we snapped the ball too early, self-inflicted wounds. We felt that our team did a great job in the second half. We sort of sputtered on offense, and it was so nice to see the offense be able to collect themselves.
We grew up at halftime, we were able to come back and let go of some of those mental mistakes go away and just worry about what we can control. I thought that was really nice to see about the offense. It's really nice to see our defense really playing well right now. They've got a lot of confidence and energy. It's fun to watch some of those guys that, two years ago, were in awful shape, wouldn't practice, wouldn't do anything, with such different mentalities, such different energy.
And that's the cool thing about college football is watching guys like Karl Brooks and Blaine Spires. I can go on and on, story after story about where they've worked and where they've come in, and it’s fun watching these guys grow up. I think the same thing is going to occur on the offensive side of the ball, we've got a bunch of young guys there that are learning and when we mix some older people with them, I think, frankly, the future is going to be bright. I think we've got a group that likes each other a lot. I think we’ve got a staff that likes our players, players that like our staff, and we're heading in the right direction. We got a long way to go still, we know that. The positive is that they enjoy coming to work. And it's fun to watch this thing grow, we got a long way to go.

We got a huge opponent coming up this week. I think they do a great job of running the football, they are huge up front. But I think they've done a great job on defense too, in terms of building this defense, it’s unbelievable. They're big up front, the two defensive ends, I think, are NFL players. The linebackers run like no other. They’re a typical Big Ten team, they're built to stop the run, and they're built to run the football, and that's what you see on the tape, so they've done a really good job of recruiting. That program is on the up and coming, no question about it.

QUESTION: What’s it like to see that ‘W’ flag flying? It hasn’t flown since 2019.
LOEFFLER: Yeah, it's kind of nice, but we tell our team that we’ve got a 24-hour rule. Two weeks ago, that was a long 24 hours. You know our team needs to learn how to deal with a little bit of success. We've dealt with adversity and we've dealt with failure a ton. Now it's time to learn a little bit of what it takes when you have a little success. I think our team realizes after we show the tape, how good we could be. But it's much more fun to correct the tape whenever you won. Things taste a little bit better, you can sleep a little bit better. But that is over now, it's great to see the flag and all that other stuff, but we're off to Minnesota.
We're off to a good week and, most importantly, improving. That's our main objective. Every week we want to be able to look and say, ‘we improved somewhere in the program.’ And that's what we're going to do this week.

QUESTION: Let's call it what it is, it's Minnesota, it's a Big Ten team. This is going to be an absolute battle. What is it like to get them in that mindset, coming in with a win, but heading into a monster game?
LOEFFLER: They know it. All they have to do is watch the tape. The tape doesn't lie and they’re a physical, hard-nosed football team that plays Big Ten football. They stop the run, they’re huge upfront, their d-ends are really, really good football players, and they run the ball. They’re huge up front. We're going have to play our very best game, and the challenge is out there.

We’ve got to be like a boxer. We’ve got to go in there, swing, and keep swinging. You might lose some rounds, but keep swinging some more. It's going to be really fun to watch our kids compete. I’ve been to a lot of stadiums, but I haven't been to a Minnesota’s stadium, we used to go play in that old dome. I’m excited to see their stadium too.

QUESTION: Facing an opponent like Minnesota, what does that do for the growth of the team?
LOEFFLER: It's good. The teams that we've played so far, Tennessee's an SEC team, South Alabama is a very good football team, and Murray State is an FCS team that’ll be in the top eight. Anytime that we have the ability to play better opponents or just as good opponents, it's good. It's the way we want it, and it's going to help us for league play and it's going to develop our team faster.

QUESTION: What has Jaison Patterson done to earn more opportunities for you?
LOEFFLER: Well, we've had him since January, and he’s coming from a great family. Mom and dad are unbelievable, brothers are awesome. We knew when we were recruiting. We never got to see him. He’s one of the few that never saw campus. And he absolutely loves it. And he's a great guy. He's a talented football player and he means business. Our backs right now, coming out of high school, because of the high school programs they come from, they're strong. I mean, they do 225 like guys that have been around here. So, they're strong. They're mature, they're great, they want to help each other, and they complement each other. And, we think with time, that backfield, with all four of those guys and the additions that we're bringing in, we’re going to have some backs.

QUESTION: Late last week, Sam Neverov announced that he was retiring from football. Do you have any comment regarding that?
LOEFFLER: It’s sad. We love Sam. Sam is a leader on our team. He's going to help us coaching. We got put in a spot where we had to make a decision: football or afterlife? And, obviously, we're never going to put someone in a position that could affect their afterlife. Football is going to end for all of us, it does end for all of us, and unfortunately, it ended a little too early for him. But he's been mentally prepared for it for a while. I think the reality is, someone actually truly saying it to him, kind of hit home. He's got a lot of people that love him, he's got our staff that loves them. He's part of the coaching staff now.

QUESTION: What do you do for your running scheme against a team like Minnesota?
LOEFFLER: We’ll watch the Ohio State game. Ohio State has some pretty good football players and Minnesota did a really good job against Ohio State stopping the run. Obviously, those backs made a few guys miss and they had some explosion plays in the passing game, but they're good. I mean, Ohio State’s pretty good. So, it's typical Big Ten football.

QUESTION: So you’re going to try to get the run game going against a team like Minnesota?
LOEFFLER: Always. Of course.

QUESTION: What about penalties? I know in the Murray State game that was tough for you.
LOEFFLER: It's been a typical young football team in terms of penalties. The older they get, the more they'll understand that it's hard to make up 90 to 100 yards in penalties. They're just trying to make sure they go left and right out there right now. As they get older and mature, that's discipline, that's the focus, that's experience. Penalties will slowly but surely disappear. We want to be a football team that has four penalties or five penalties at max. Right now, we’re in the 10, 11, 12.

That's hard, but it's no talent issue, and there are some things that we're working on. Not to make excuses, it's a little bit expected right now. Those linemen get a little anxious. When they see those big guys across from them for the first time and they stem in front. The next thing they know, it's a different front. The one that was disheartening, because I coach the guy, was the long touchdown that got taken away. We take great pride in the quarterback position to make sure that everyone was set. We didn't see the wide receiver was still moving, so that's my responsibility. I need to coach a little better, and I didn’t last week.

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