Scot Loeffler Friday Press Conference Transcript (Toledo)

Scot Loeffler Press Conference  
Nov. 9, 2023  
Bowling Green, Ohio  
  
LOEFFLER: Excited to get this week going. I have no idea what day it is, but we're really excited to have the opportunity to play one of the best rivalry games. Just like we talked about last night, this is an awesome game. Great opponent. They're playing really well. They're number one in the Mac and we're going to have to give our best efforts to give ourselves a chance to win this one. But they're good and really excited about the opportunity to play in this game. I know our players and coaches are excited for the opportunity.  
 
QUESTION: Can you expand on the significance of being part of this rivalry? Do you remember watching it growing up? 
LOEFFLER: No, I remember always watching the Kent Akron game, you know, just living 5 minutes from Akron and then the Toledo Bowling Green game. And then obviously, the Michigan and Ohio State game loved watching that. And then back in the day, whenever Michigan played Notre Dame, you know, those are the ones that I always remember watching. And great games, great traditions. So very excited to watch or to be a part of this one. 
 
QUESTION: Is it hard to get new players to buy in to this rivalry? 
LOEFFLER: Up in Toledo, they talk about this every day. This is a big game for both programs. That's why it's a rivalry game, and I know they emphasize it, we emphasize it and that's why this game is special, you know, both teams are working 365 days a year to play in this and to perform well. So yeah, it's an exciting rivalry game. And that's what makes college football awesome. 
 
QUESTION: What does it say about Harold Fannin Jr.’s versatility to impact the game in different ways?   
LOEFFLER: Harold is the actual perfect player that we're looking for at that hybrid position. He can play a lot, he can play with his hand in the dirt, play in the backfield, play the wide receiver position. That's I think what everyone's looking for, you know, everyone's trying to play out of 12 personnel. But having the ability to play in 10 personnel with those same people have the ability to play in 21 personnel just gives you a ton of versatility, gives you a lot of opportunity for a lot of different formations. So yeah, Harold is picture perfect for what we're looking for at that position. 
 
QUESTION: What does it say about him to have his best BGSU games these last two weeks with everything going on? 
LOEFFLER: Yeah. I think first off, he's got good teammates and good coaches around him that support him and obviously you said a tough time since the time we recruited him with his sister's health, and then obviously last week or two weeks ago was not easy, but he had a bunch of really good people in our program, from our support staff to our coaches to our players that really did a good job rallying around him and we'll continue to do that. That's the one thing that I am very fortunate to have around here, is we've got good people that care about each other, and we generally rally pretty good around each other whenever we're struggling. 
 
QUESTION: How do you handle the Battle of I-75 on a short week? 
LOEFFLER: Yeah, I know Jason agrees with this. I really wish this thing was on Saturday and it had a full week of preparation, but obviously he and I don't make the schedules. It's way above our pay grade, but I wish it was a regular seven-day week. I would assume he would agree, and we really wish this thing was on Saturday. I remember I think we've only played one on Saturday since I've been here, and it was just an unbelievable atmosphere. It's what college football looks like, and it's good for the Toledo business. It's good for the Bowling Green businesses, but you know, we had a great crowd up there at Toledo last year. We brought a lot of people up there and I'm hoping that the stadium is full of brown and orange and Toledo scholars. 
 
QUESTION: What time did you get back from Kent State? What does that process look like? 
LOEFFLER: We got here at what Damaris, 2:30? Something like that. I finally fell asleep around 3:30 and I just stayed here. So that's normally what everyone does in the short weeks. 
 
QUESTION: What are the statuses of Terion Stewart and Ta’ron Keith? 
LOEFFLER: Both of them will be game time decisions. We'll see where we're at with them, hopefully get Jordan back. Also, uh Trent Simms will not play in this game. He's got a knee that hopefully we can get back during bowl prep and for our bowl game, but we'll make a decision on both backs here at the end of the week or at the beginning of the week, whatever it is. 
 
QUESTION: What did you see in Dontrez Brown when he arrived at BGSU? 
LOEFFLER: Yeah, he's an awesome kid now. Great parents lost his father a couple years back. I think right during the COVID era, which was really devastating, he was an unbelievable person in the Fremont Ross community and did a great job with a bunch of kids. But Dontrez comes from great stock. Very good parents and very good family. Gosh, I think he's like a 3.8 (GPA) student here. He's done an unbelievable job in school. He is a very good football player, but he's like the picture-perfect student athlete. I mean, he's really, uh, great young man that plays good football and it's a great teammate. 
 
QUESTION: How reliable has Dontrez Brown been? 
LOEFFLER:  Yeah, he's a good player. You feel him and he's a prototypical mat kid that's developed and is really, uh, really developed into a really good player and you feel him, him and hawk. I mean, those guys are vets. I hope goodness we can continue and we're going to try to recruit high school kids because, I mean, those guys have been in our program for so long and we were able to develop them and we're going to continue to. I know we have adapted and adjusted to the portal. I get all that, but I think we've taken more high school kids in this upcoming class than we ever have. We've gotten a bunch of Ohio kids, Michigan kids and Indiana, PA, so we want to keep building this thing with our local talent. 
 
QUESTION: What did you think of the running backs last night? 
LOEFFLER: Yeah, I thought everyone played well. We put Harold back there to run the ball even a little bit, and we're going to find creative ways with Terrion being out. That's normally a buck and half that you've got to make up, and he's a really good football player, hard to tackle. So, we had to find different ways to make up for the yardage that we lost without Terrion. And I thought TK played superb. He is I think the first back to ever have 100 yards rushing and 100 yards in receptions. Uh, I thought OJ played well. Abdul did some really good things. Austin's always mister reliable and Harold was Harold, and you know, Finn played well. I thought we had just a lot of guys that contributed and that's what we're going to have to do one way or the other. Even if Terrion’s playing or not, we're going to have to rely on everyone to do their part in this one because they're excellent football team. 
 
QUESTION: With Connor Bazelak and Camden Orth, are there scenarios that dictate who’s on the field? 
LOEFFLER: Yeah, we've got different packages that both are running. We think it makes the defense prepare for a lot of things. Which is a positive. The there's some plays that both will use in a game, but there's some specific things that we have both of them doing and it's a feel deal. Like for example in the Georgia Tech game we planned on playing Cam a little bit more and Connor was hot and it's pretty hard to take out a guy that's hot. But regardless, if Connor is on fire or not, you're going to see Cam. We've got things that we want to do with Cam that we think stresses the defense and he brings juice, he brings energy and leadership. So excited to have both of those guys are really doing their part and that's not easy to do, but it's worked and we're going to continue to do that. 
 
QUESTION: How has Odieu Hiliare been over the last few weeks and what does he mean to the program? 
LOEFFLER:  Yeah, both him and Abdul have banged up all year long and last week in practice, we started seeing both of them come back to life in terms of health. We’re going to need them in these next two games. Obviously, OJ had a ridiculous claim last year, and it's going to take our very best performance out of all the guys that stepped up on the field in order to give ourselves a chance against Toledo. 
 
 
QUESTION: What stands out the most to you about Toledo? 
LOEFFLER:  They’re a solid, really good football team and there's a reason that they won nine straight games, and you know, in this we've got to be on point. We've got a I have a great plan and we got to do a great job of protecting the ball. If we turn the football over, we won't have a chance. We need to protect the ball and do a great job with the ball, and I don't know the percentages, but I can promise you the games that we've screwed up here these this past year were Liberty, Miami, and OU. And those were all turnover catastrophes, to say the least. So, we need to make sure we protect the ball and find a way to make some explosion plays. We got to be great on special teams. We got to be phenomenal and go out and play our very best game and have some fun and enjoy the rivalry and it's always awesome. It's a clean, hard-hitting game. It's fun and I know our players and I know their players and coaches and our coaches we just look forward to the opportunity to play in this game. 
 
QUESTION: What has been the most successful philosophy or approach in rivalry games? 
LOEFFLER:  Well, every game is important, especially in college football. I mean, they're all important. Everyone means something here. But you would be, uh, crazy to say or think that the Ohio State Michigan game is just a normal game. The Florida, Florida State game, just a normal game. The Alabama Auburn game. They're not, and that's the same thing with the Toledo Bowling Green game. It is not just a normal game. And we don't approach it that way whatsoever. It’s a big game. It's a big game for our program. It's a big game for their program, that's why the fans love it and they're just fun to play in. I mean, I don't know what it is. They're just awesome. I love playing in rivalry games and I know our staff and our players love it and just like I said, I've been fortunate to be a part of some really, really good ones. 
 
QUESTION: What has been the consistent point during this winning streak? 
LOEFFLER:  Um, turnovers. I mean, that's huge. The turnover battle is huge. Focus, attention to detail, being able to dial in at the that moment, it's a challenge right now. It's a challenge for everyone, just like I said, to keep these guys to worry about the now rather than let's worry about the future, worry about what happened in the past. Those are challenges right now and it it's not like whenever you and I were in school, we just had to deal with one newspaper, ESPN. We got to play it 12:00, o'clock and 3:30 and that was it. Now it's constant, it's in your hand. Constantly, you're hearing noise constantly. So, you know, blocking out that noise and focusing on what you need to do, it's challenging.  I think we've done a better job with that, but at the end of the day, it's been the turnovers. 
 
QUESTION: How do you generate turnovers against the Toledo offense? 
LOEFFLER:  Well, that's a challenge. You know, they've got good football players. We’ve got to swarm to the football. We've got a gang tackle. There's no such thing as having a one-on-one tackle with these guys. They can make you miss and go score, so we need to do a great job of gang tackling, running to the football, play with passion and obviously have great gap integrity. We’ve got to maintain our gaps and don't jump outside the gap, because they'll beat you in a minute if you're not, gap sound. 
 
QUESTION: How does it feel to be bowl eligible for the second straight year? 
LOEFFLER:  Yeah, it's great. Yeah. No question about it. We'll worry about that in a couple weeks, you know, it was great last night. It's an accomplishment, but we've got to be laser focused on our task at hand here and it's about the battle of the I-75 trophy and we got to play against a super football team. So, it's going to be fun, just like I said, I I'm hoping that this place is packed and could have our just a really good college football game. 
 
QUESTION: What does the rivalry mean to you, personally? 
LOEFFLER:  Just like I said growing up in Northeast Ohio, I followed it and now obviously being uh being here you realize how important it is on both sides. It's like divided families. You know, people want to Toledo people want to Bowling Green. It's 25 minutes up the road. We recruit the same kids. Yeah, it’s a great, great game and just like I said, I appreciate the history with it. And I think there's a difference between one game I think in wins and losses. I think right now I believe so.  Obviously, whenever it's that close and that divided in terms of Toledo has won a heck of a lot of games and Bowling Green has won a heck of a lot of these games. So there's just a great rivalry playing it simple. 
 
QUESTION: What’s the message to a divided family in the rivalry like the Zimmerly brothers? 
LOEFFLER:  Oh gosh, I love the Zimmerly family. They're great kids and we wish we had them both here. But uh yeah, that's going to be an interesting deal, to say the least. So, I haven't had too many of those before. Where a kid playing on Ohio State, Michigan or vice versa. So, I don't know. You could ask Cade, but I can imagine that Thanksgiving isn't going to be very comfortable one way or the other. So, we'll see. 
 
QUESTION: Has the offense getting comfortable with two quarterbacks helped the consistency? 
LOEFFLER:  Yeah, just like I said, I don't think. You know; besides the focus things, I think the thing that got us off kilter a little bit, we didn't start off well against liberty. You know, we didn't play well. We were all shocked to be quite honest with you offensively with how poorly we played. Just because of how well we played in training camp, we were really concerned about how we were defensively, because I mean, our offense really played well during training camp and what got us off kilter a little bit was going to Ann Arbor, and we paid for that. I mean, we played well in the first half, but we paid for it, significantly, we had a ton of injuries. Lost one of our best defensive ends, I mean, you name it, Harold, we lost Harold and Levi. We just got really beat up from that game and it's taken a while for us to recover. And you know, I'm sure they're beat up right now. We're beat up. That's just part of it. It's week, what 11 right now? You got to go out, people got to step up and the guys that are beat up got to play well, put their bumps and bruises aside and go play good football and I'm sure they're in the same boat, just like we are. 

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