Scot Loeffler Monday Press Conference Transcript (Akron Game)

Scot Loeffler Press Conference
Sept. 26, 2022
Bowling Green, Ohio

LOEFFLER: Good afternoon. Thank you for coming. We played a very good football team this Saturday. I thought the defensive front and the back end for Mississippi State was excellent. I thought Cam [Orth} did some good things in a tough situation. I felt at times we ran the ball effectively and defensively, they were exceptional on offense. Whenever you watch the tape, you would have thought that there was scheme issues, what have not. The wide receivers were phenomenal and I thought the quarterback was a completely on point and then Mike Leach’s offence at any time you have the ability to run the football. The way that they they've been running it’s tough to defend, but I thought the offensive line for Mississippi State was excellent. And special teams wise were not happy with the setting up field position for our offense and defense, we need to improve in that area immensely, but the first half of the season is over. We talk about having three seasons in the MAC. The first four games are the non-conference. We came out of it 1-3. We wished to be 2-2. The whole conference is either 1-3 or 2-2. There's not one person over .500 so that's what makes this conference awesome. Everyone's even right now it's, we've got a four-game stretch here of regular college football, Saturday college football and then we've got a four-game stretch of MACtion, so I'm extremely excited to get going, we've got a great opponent in Akron. They keep getting better each and every week, similar to us. We've got to go down to their stadium and play a very difficult offense and defense that I think is really playing hard and improving and playing better each and every week. So we got to go down and we got to play it like it's our Super Bowl. Our preparation needs to be elite. We need to upgrade in everything that we do throughout the week to give ourselves a chance to beat Akron. Any questions?

QUESTION: How would you assess the first phase and the first four non-conference game?
LOEFFLER: Offensively, we did not play well in game one. Game two, I thought, the second-half of the Eastern Kentucky game showed our potential. I thought three quarters of the game, the Marshall game, I thought that was the most complete game that our team has ever played since I've been here. In terms of offense, defense and special teams. Marshall was a very, very good football team and then we ran into a buzz saw. That Mississippi State team will be two or three on their side. They're excellent. LSU was able to sneak one, I think. We're excited about going down and playing our best football. These next three weeks. This is what we've been talking about for the entire year. We need to go compete in the MAC and give ourselves a chance on the East.

QUESTION: Take us through what happened last week?
LOEFFLER: I thought it was acid reflux. I woke up on Sunday morning early. Four o'clock in the morning and just throwing up or spitting up blood. And then Sunday, I tried to go to bed, tried to sleep and ended up sleeping in my office chair. I couldn't lay down. Felt awful. Every sign of a heart attack you could ever imagine. And then on Monday, continue to feel like not very well and then couldn't walk up and down the stairs, and that's when I knew there was something wrong. Doctor Noftz came over on Monday night and then I was put in the hospital. Had blood clots where they're not supposed to be and had a long week, but I was really proud of our staff or players, how they handled that, and I don't want to ever miss a game. I don't like not being around our team. But I thought they handled it well, especially Cam [Orth], in my opinion, being having to start his first game in that type of environment. And you know, we got a really good staff. We got really good players. So, it's not shocking. We got a great support staff. It's not shocking that they did a great job.

QUESTION: I guess this shows how much this program means to you. Should you be back this soon?
LOEFFLER: Yeah, I just got to be smart. I can't get on airplanes for a while and yeah, I mean, I'm fine. I mean, the fact of the matter is, I'm a little tired and all that, but there's no time to be tired right now.

QUESTION: Is there anything about this kind of thing that put things in perspective about what's really important?
LOEFFLER: Yeah, absolutely. You know, we get, we get so locked into are craziness that goes on. My hat’s off to coach Candle. He was the first person that texted me and you know, rivalries are important, football is important, but at the end of the day, it's your health and your family that means everything. No one’s going to ever remember how many games you won, lost or what happened, and they never do. I can't even tell you the last three national champions. You know, I can’t, but it's the challenge and the grind every day that we love, we love the competition, but yes, to answer your question, reality did set in a little bit.

QUESTION: How difficult is it to watch your guys on TV?
LOEFFLER: It stinks. Never want to do it again. But just like I said, they did well, and we made the right decision with the doctors. I was wiped out at halftime, just sitting on my couch so they made the right decision. I didn't like it, but they made the right choice.

QUESTION: Are you going to change your coaching style because of this?
LOEFFLER: Sure. No, I'm not going to change.

QUESTION: Will you be on the field?
LOEFFLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Will Matt and Christian be back this week?
LOEFFLER: Absolutely.

QUESTION: You got the news on Jakari that you've been waiting for, what was that like?
LOEFFLER: The best Friday you could ever imagine. The team left. I started working on Akron and took a nap actually in the office for like an hour. Got back up and was just starting Akron again and the phone rang. And you know, we didn't lose faith in humanity and I don't know necessarily like the process whatsoever. I think the process is completely failed. I think it is something that needs to get completely changed in college football. There are so many holes and so many problems and so many inconsistencies. With this transfer portal, it's unbelievable and I don't want to dive into it too much. But it is an issue that beyond needs fixed. Yeah, it's not fair. It's not consistent. Information is not consistent being shared from school to school. It's a really big problem that I hope to goodness, because people are good people, want to be good. But right now that that system right now is a complete mess, to say the least, and Jakari should have been eligible in January. And if we had the information, he would have been eligible in January. So, he lost three football games because of a broken, beyond broken system.

QUESTION: How does his return help the continuity on the offensive line?
We really think that him at center, Jalen Grant at left guard, Bronson at right guard, Tunde, Cam and Jeremiah at left tackle rotating in with Alex at right. We think we've got a much, much sounder, better offensive line than what we've had here in the past. And then Cade, obviously, will be great at subbing in with Bronson at the right guard position so it makes all things a heck of a lot easier, especially losing the back. Losing Terion is not an easy deal so having the center is really important.

QUESTION: Is there a message to others to listen to your body? Did you go just in time?
LOEFFLER: Yeah. They said I was 24 hours away from not a good day, so I do encourage people to do that. I'm the worst at it, I’m by far the worst at it. I think how this whole thing started, it was I thought I had a blood clot in my calf. The week before the UCLA game, I blew it off. I thought I got kicked. I got in an airplane. I went for a run on Saturday and it was five mile run and I thought I was going to die every block, to be quite honest with you. So, it probably went into my heart then. And but yes, I need pay attention, that's for sure.

QUESTION: So something that was building for couple weeks probably?
LOEFFLER: Probably that's what they said.

QUESTION: Your heart or your lungs?
LOEFFLER: Lungs.

QUESTION: Could Matt have started on Saturday or were you saving him for the MAC slate?
LOEFFLER: No, not at all. I made that decision on a Friday night, the first time he practiced was a Friday morning. That was the first time I watched him throw on air. I thought he was okay. And I just really felt that with both of those hip pointers the way that they were, I don't think he would have lasted very long whatsoever. This is a big, physical team. We felt Cam gave us the best chance to win and I didn't want to make that decision. I know Matt wants to play as a competitive dude, but the best thing for our team on Saturday was for Cam to play. And you know, sometimes you got to make tough decisions like that. And we did. And it was the right decision.

QUESTION: Harold Fannin Jr. had a pretty good game, how does that elevate the offense?
LOEFFLER: Harold's going to be a special guy. He's talented. He's smart. He's extremely strong for his age. His hands are strong, he can set the edge, believe it or not, for a freshman. I don't know how many freshman tight ends I could ever say that can set the edge. If you watched him, at least on TV, he looked exactly like he fit in that conference in terms of people were bouncing off him left and right. He's just a strong, powerful guy that has, I don't think he even knows how much talent that he has. I think he could be really special.

QUESTION: Looking ahead to Akron, what things will be the key?
LOEFFLER: Well, we got to do what we've been doing in the Eastern Kentucky and the Marshall, game. We got to win the turnover battle. We got to win the explosion battle. Joe Moorhead's offense with all the RPO's, you know, we got to limit the explosion plays. And then obviously on offense, we've got to make some explosion plays. I think we got to be balanced. I think we got to try to keep them off balance as much as we can in terms of run pass and I think this will be a great competitive game and just like I said, when we lost Eastern Kentucky, the emblems on the helmet, all that stuff right now in college football, is meaningless. I mean, you got to bring it every single week. There's no such thing as a cupcake game. And you see that throughout college football right now. I mean, it's unbelievable. We got to bring our A game for sure.

QUESTION: How does the defense regain their confidence and how do you expect them to play?
LOEFFLER: Whenever you watch the tape, we’re three inches away from knocking the ball down, the DB's broke when they were supposed to break. And the fact of the matter is God gave those Mississippi State receivers a little bit more talent than our DB's, but our DB's, they're not going to lose confidence. You know Eric Lewis. Eric Lewis is very confident, and that's why I love Eric. You know, he really gives a presence to that defense and really presents confidence to them and he'll be out of his mind this week in practice, and they'll do a great job to get ready for this Akron game.

QUESTION: Is there a new vibe or psyche with the team now that you guys open the MAC slate?
LOEFFLER: Just like I said, everyone's the same right now. Think we have four teams that are 2-2. We wish we were one of those teams. We let one slip away. We’re all 1-3, we’re all 2-2. Every week's going to be, If you don't bring it every week, and if you don't prepare every week like it's the Super Bowl, you'll get your tail kicked.

And so, the urgency, the way we do business, our attitude, how we handle ourselves on and off the field, everything's going to matter. And that's what we've been promoting to our players, is that everything's going to matter, and we don't need to be chasing guys around for weigh-ins and all the little details and all the little things. We’re going to determine wins or losses these next eight weeks.

QUESTION: Is Camden Orth’s role game-plan centric?
LOEFFLER: Yeah, it's game plan for sure.

QUESTION: Coach, what do you think about the performance of MAC teams against some powerful teams this past weekend?
LOEFFLER: Yeah, I’m really happy for Chuck Martin down there at Miami of Ohio beating a Big Ten team fits these teams or discipline. They're tough. And to go into Northwestern and beat them, that was really impressive. I thought defensively they played great and I watched the game. And I'm happy for him. I mean, that's a big win. And then I thought Kent State played well against Georgia. So there was some good competition for sure. And that's what's going to make this MAC a fun run, there are some good teams. Yeah, it's all mentality. It's all how you prep. You better bring it each week because anyone could beat anyone. That's what's so cool about this conference and it's going to be fun to watch and we'll see where we measure up.

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