Scot Loeffler Friday Press Conference Transcript (Kent State Game)

Scot Loeffler Press Conference
Nov. 4, 2022
Bowling Green, Ohio

LOEFFLER: Good afternoon. Thanks for coming. Appreciate all of you being here. Super happy for our team, super happy for our staff, the Bowling Green people. We gotta continue to improve. There was a lot left on the field offensively in this past game that we need to clean up. Our defense played exceptional, just like I said after the game, special teams, minus the one return was also very good. Offensively, we did some good things. We moved the ball up and down the field. We just couldn't finish in the red zone and we missed some opportunities for some huge plays early. For us to continue to have success, we need to make sure that all three units are firing at the same pace. At times, we've done that. At times, we haven't this year. We're playing some really good offenses coming up, especially this week, I think Kent State’s offense is exceptional. All three units are gonna have to be clicking to give us a chance to have success. I think this Kent State team knows how to win. They've won in the past. They’re explosive, they're good on defense. They're good on special teams. They're creative on special teams, and we need to have our best week of preparation and really get all three units clicking together to have a chance to compete against Kent.

QUESTION: Were the offensive struggles an execution issue or just what was being presented by Western Michigan?
LOEFFLER: Western Michigan is a tough prep. Really hard prep. One of the hardest that we've had, in terms of schematics. I thought we did a good job of preparing for them. We had a really good plan. On first drive we had CJ Lewis wide open on a deep over that literally you could have thrown backwards and completed the ball for a 40-yard touchdown pass, and we busted in a protection that we shouldn't have. So, a lot of it had to do with some critical errors and then obviously the turnovers. You don't turn the ball over. That's why we've been winning. We've been playing really good defense and we haven't been turning the ball over. And when you turn over the football like we did and lose the turnover battle, essentially, it's hard to win. We're very fortunate that our defense played well. We’re very fortunate that our special teams played well, but all the things that offensively that we had miscues on are all things that could be corrected in a minute. We've done these things all year long, for the most part, minus the beginning of the season, we've been doing the things that it takes to play winning football. Just like I said, there was some things that we did really well, we'd have 80-yard drives and not score. It's finishing, it's the details. It's all the little things and even as good as we've played on defense, there's some things that we have to clean up there also. It's always a work in progress. You're never happy. We're just constantly trying to improve in all three phases.

QUESTION: How does it feel seeing the team step up in close games?
LOEFFLER: I think the difference between the teams in the past, obviously there's some major differences, but one aspect is, the air went out of everyone's tires when we had the turnover in the north end zone here on the left hash. In years past, they would have folded their tents. It would have took the complete emotion out of the game and we would have lost. What happened was our kids rose to the occasion. They had energy, they had juice. They didn't feel sorry for themselves, and they played really hard on defense. And then when we got the ball back offensively, we were able to keep the ball, which was great. We were able to end the ball in victory, getting that key first down was absolutely essential. I thought it was a great run by Jaison along with really good blocking up front. So just like I said, you’re three plays away from that being a 35, 33, 32 ball game to 3. There are three or four plays that you'd love to have back, but just like you've said, this is the MAC. My big emphasis to the guys is that those three or four plays, this next week in particular, it's gonna matter. You can't waste those opportunities.

QUESTION: How impressive was it that the defense kept Western Michigan out of the end zone?
LOEFFLER: They had a young quarterback and we're really good up front. We were able to disguise multiple coverages. We had a couple new pressures in the game plan. They mixed it up well and we played really well up front and that's the key for us. We gotta play great defense. Four years ago, we said it and everyone looked, just because the league is such a scoring league, that you're really gonna build the defense first. Well, yes, we are. That's our philosophy. We want to play great defense. In the month of November, you gotta be able to run the ball and we're gonna be fortunate enough here on Wednesday to have good weather again. But if you can't play good defense and run the ball in the end of November whenever it's sideways rain and 35-45 mile an hour winds here in Bowling Green, it's hard to win. So, you know, we're always gonna build our defense. That's why we're doing some pretty cool things right now.

QUESTION: Would you prefer terrible weather this time of year?
LOEFFLER: This week I do. This week I absolutely do. I think this Kent State offense is very good. I think offensively, if we can correct those three or four things, we can score points too. Who knows about this game? This could be a shootout. This could be defensive, you never know. You gotta go out there and adapt and adjust based on how the game's flowing. But I do know this. We've gotta win the turnover battle. That's been our key, protecting the ball, getting the ball back. That's going to be absolutely essential to give us a chance to have an opportunity to compete and win.

QUESTION: Did you ever question where the team would go after tough losses, and what does it say about how they responded?
LOEFFLER: I really didn’t. That Eastern Kentucky game, everyone thought that was just an average team. Well, this Eastern Michigan's a pretty good football team. They took Toledo down to a 3-point ball game and it was the same course of events with EKU as it was Eastern Michigan. It was a hard fought, came down to the last drive type of game and we let a bunch of opportunities slip away in that game not to finish it like Eastern Michigan did. The fact of the matter is, I thought our kids played really well and I knew they would respond well to Marshall, which they did. I've only had one really disappointing deal and that was Buffalo. That was just because of the lack of emotion. We kind of lost who we were in that game and but our kids responded really well. That's all you can ask for in this league, is to go out and play your tails off, have great energy, play together as a team, care about each other and give yourself a chance, because just like I said, these MAC games are gonna come down to one, two, three plays, and everyone's good. Everyone's equal. I think Toledo is, hands down, the most talented team that is in this league. I truly believe that. I think if you asked anyone, they would say that. But it’s one play at a time, one week at a time, one practice at a time and see where things go. But I know that we've got our hands full this week.

QUESTION: How much would you attribute Wednesday’s win to the characteristics and qualities that you can't teach?
LOEFFLER: I think we've had to learn and teach and learn and learn some more over these last few years. It's been fun to watch the guys that have stayed here the whole-time change and buy in, and it's been fun to watch the newcomers check their egos at the door and buy into our locker room. The biggest worry about the transfer portal is that you bring people into your locker room that you spent three years of trying to get the culture right, and then all of a sudden, three or four guys can ruin that in a minute. We are really fortunate that these guys that we brought in bought into what we are, and we were lucky through recruiting to evaluate those kids and find out that they're what we want. That's not easy to do right now, the way the NCAA has made these rules with the transfer portal and how they're limiting contact. Right now for example, the kids in the portal, you can't talk to until December 8. That’s really hard and roughly 20-some days to evaluate their parents, evaluate their character, evaluate if they can play, evaluate if they fit in. So, there's some challenging pieces to this whole thing.

QUESTION: During MACtion, how do you focus on preparing for the opponent and maintaining your fundamentals?
LOEFFLER: I don't think it was a fundamental issue whatsoever. I don't. I thought our kids played well, we just missed a few assignments and a few opportunities that you would love to have back. It's amazing, three or four plays in a game could have totally changed it. You would have said, if we would have executed those three or four plays with Matt's completion percentage, and we don't fumble the ball, you would have said that was our best offensive performance. You literally would have walked out of here and felt great about what the offense did, but that's how slim the margin for error is right now. Three or four things happen differently, we would have walked out of here and went, “We played a complete game,” but we didn't. We gotta clean it up, get back to doing what we do, and hopefully play better.

QUESTION: What would it mean to be bowl-eligible?
LOEFFLER: We just really haven't even talked about it, haven't discussed it, and we're not. We’re gonna take day-to-day. We can't control a lot of things. What we can control is what we're doing on a day-to-day basis. The minute that your mind starts wandering about things that you really can't control, or what the future is gonna be, you'll get your tail kicked in a New York minute in this league. All our focus has gotta be on us improving. All our focus has gotta be on being able to execute and play really, really hard against Kent State, and after that, that's all you can ask for. But get ahead of our skis, in terms of thinking about things in the future, I think it's as Coach Saban would say, rat poison. I think that's rat poison, to be quite honest with you.

QUESTION: Is Matt McDonald planning to come back next year?
LOEFFLER: We would love for him to be able to. That year that Matt filed his waiver, I want to say two quarterbacks out of 30 received their year of eligibility. In all actuality the rule changed six months after he was deemed ineligible. I'm hoping to goodness that the NCAA would have some common sense with some of these kids that that lost a year of football when the rule changed, and also the inconsistency of how 30 guys get their waiver two didn't. A lot of things with that whole thing doesn't make sense. Just like I said with the Jakari thing. The Jakari thing was bizarre. He was a poster child and when I mean a poster child, a poster child for a kid to receive, that's why they NCAA created the waiver program for Jakari’s situations. Hopefully they do the right thing with Matt too.

QUESTION: Does it continue to fuel this team knowing you weren’t supposed to be in this position?
LOEFFLER: I think everyone outside the building knew that and then we were told that there's no way in heck that we're ever gonna turn the tables after how things started. I really honestly believe, our kids believe, and they know where we're at. To the outside world, we're all upset and up in arms about how the offense played. Three things change and the whole perception changes. We’re really not concerned about the wins that occurred in the past. We can't worry about the future, can't worry about the past. We gotta lock into Kent State. If we start talking about the future, talking about the past, I think it's really dangerous in this league. There's too many good teams and too many good coaches to pat yourself on the back or worry about what could happen. I hope tonight's practice is great, and then look forward to getting up tomorrow morning and have the best Tuesday practice we can possibly have. It’s chaotic MAC football. We’ll see what happens.

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