Bowling Green State University Athletics
Scot Loeffler Friday Press Conference Transcript (Kent State)
Scot Loeffler Press Conference
Nov. 3, 2023
Bowling Green, Ohio
QUESTION: Any update on Terion Stewart?
LOEFFLER: Not yet. We’ll know more towards the end of the week if he’s going to be good for this week or not. That will be more of a game time decision of what we’re going to do with him.
QUESTION: How does Stewart’s injury impact the running game going forward?
LOEFFLER: He’s a great player, there’s no question about that. Obviously, if he couldn’t play this week, we would miss him. But, you know, we got the opportunity last year to learn how to play without him, which was not fun, don’t get me wrong. We did not like him not being in the game, but we’ll make that decision more towards the end of the week.
QUESTION: On the importance of having experience in the running game?
LOEFFLER: No question about it. They all do things different. [Ta’ron Keith] is more of the hybrid, can do it all, really involved in the pass game. Obviously, we know what Terion is and Jaison [Patterson] is kind of a mix of both. We’ve got some guys back there that are experience that have done a lot of good things. We just have a good backfield.
QUESTION: How beneficial is the depth of the team during all the injuries?
LOEFFLER: It’s been disruptive to be quite honest with you. We still, besides the Georgia Tech game, still haven’t played a full offensive game yet with our potential. You look back at it, started off slow, did not play well in the Liberty game. Came back week two and played well and then when we went to Ann Arbor, that kind of threw us off kilter to say the least. We had quarterback issues. You name it, we had it. We had Harold Fannin issues with injuries. Literally just piecing it together to find a way to be competitive and win. It’s been disruptive, there’s no question about it, but that’s football. That’s why you go recruit and get depth and get people that have a role and can fill in whenever the next guy goes down.
QUESTION: How has consistency improved during the win streak?
LOEFFLER: We’re still not happy with where we’re at. We wanted to play our best football in the month of November and when we look at both sides of the ball and in special teams, we didn’t play our best game and we want to chase that. Is it going to be perfect? No, but our goal is to try to get our team to perform the way that we performed in the Georgia Tech game. That’s our potential. That’s who we are. That’s the maximum of who we are and we want to chase that every week. Offensively, we did some good things in this game and we did some things that we would love to get back. Whenever you can’t get six inches or a yard, that’s discouraging. We had opportunities twice to do that. We were able to rebound and Connor [Bazelak] threw a great ball to [Ta’ron Keith] in the north end zone, but we had to settle for a field goal that should have been blocked. We have to get a yard.
QUESTION: On how the team has shown up for other players during times of personal loss.
LOEFFLER: I’m dressed up against today because I feel like I’ve been in the Funeral Home more than I’ve been in the office, to be quite honest with you. Levi [Gazarek] lost his cousin, we just buried him today. There’s been a lot of things going on in our team and you have 105 guys. I have sick moms, sick grandmas, sick dads and those things are going to happen. We have good kids in this program that care about each other. Any time we have one of our guys that are going through a hard time I think our players do a wonderful job of rallying around their teammates. That’s why we have a team is because we have good kids.
QUESTION: What challenges does Kent State pose?
LOEFFLER: Number one, we all know the offense. You guys saw the offense here, when Dino [Babers] was here, Sean [Lewis] was running the offense. We know that scheme, its difficult. It’s very hard to prepare for and I think defensively they cause a lot of problems. I think their defensive line is good. I know they’ve lost some linebackers in terms of injuries, very similar to us, but I like the backups, I like who they are. I think this is one of the better secondaries we play this year, the secondary is excellent. They can run, they cover well, they’re aggressive. They’re a quarters organization that will fire zone and man coverage. I like them, I really do. Just like I said, records in this league mean nothing. They absolutely mean zero. They don’t. I mean, we were in a dog fight and I knew it would be a dog fight against Ball State. That’s not a two-win team. The challenge in this league is who you play the first four games and the injuries and the things that you go through are incredible. Some of these records, you can just throw them out the door. Anyone could beat anyone in this league, and that’s the cool thing about it. You have to prep, you have to get your guys to play. You have to get your guys in the now, which is challenging in today’s football, and you have to step up and play. No one is going to give you anything. So, to be honest with you, it’s just like last week. It’s going to be a challenge.
QUESTION: How do you avoid a similar outcome to last year’s game against Kent State?
LOEFFLER: We’re trying not to worry about the future. We’re trying not to worry about the past. Our goal is to try to be 2-0 and to play the best football we can play in the month of November. Those are the two objectives is to find a way to be 2-0, that’s the way we’re looking at it in MACtion, and find a way to play our very best football and control what we can control. I heard the weather is supposed to be terrible over there again, so just add another thing to the element so it’s awesome.
QUESTION: How have players from other conferences adjusted to MAC play?
LOEFFLER: We’re about entering into the no-man’s land. I still know it’s Friday, but it’s Monday. You get through this week and you’re completely in no-man’s land. You literally get in a groove that next week I’ll think this is truly a Monday, you just do. The new players, they go ‘This is the weirdest stuff I’ve ever seen, ever. You got to be kidding me.’ This is weird stuff.