Scot Loeffler Friday Press Conference Transcript (EIU Game)

Scot Loeffler Press Conference
Sept. 4, 2023
Bowling Green, Ohio

LOEFFLER: Happy Labor Day. To start out offensively, after watching the tape, I thought we played really hard. I thought it was one of our better efforts in terms of running the ball, very encouraged with that. I think we're going to have a team, finally, that can run the ball effectively. I thought we blocked really well on the perimeter. I thought up front we did some good things and in terms of run blocking. Whenever you look at it, what killed us in the game is we had nine pressures, we did not protect the quarterback whatsoever. We had the five interceptions, two of them were horrific decisions. The other three, I don't know what to tell the guy to be quite honest with you. They had a guy in his lap before he could even take the right foot work. The negative is that we need to protect the passer better. Whenever you turnover the football, it’s generally a combination of people. It’s normally a bad decision by a quarterback, a missed block by a tight end or offensive lineman or running back or the wide receiver not getting open. We did not protect the passer well. What's a shame is we had, whenever you look at it, just guys running Scott-free open. The positive is that you see, if we protect the passer, that's a 250-yard passing day, 200-yard rushing day and you feel very encouraged about where we're going.
The positive is I like that we're running the ball. We got to protect the passer because we've got really good skill players and they got open all day long. If we protect the pastor, I think we're going to have a very good offense.

Defensively, really similar to the offense, I thought they played hard also. It was not a lack of effort whatsoever. I thought they handled the sudden changes quite well. They were put into some very, very sticky situations and I thought they stood and forced some field goals and blocked one. One I thought for the first time going out, I thought we tackled pretty darn good. Most of the time that first go you have a thousand missed tackles. We didn't. When we look at what we could have improved on defense, we had some eye violations and it's some discipline things.

We think offensively, we get our pass protection cleaned up, we're going to have an opportunity to be able to throw the ball and run it this year. Defensively, just some little things. We have to clean up our eye discipline. There was a couple times they had free runners and shouldn't have, and they didn't make the play either, and we need to make sure that we're disciplined with our eyes.

Special teams. Did not kick the ball particularly well and we need to start kicking the ball well. Overall, we lost the hidden yardage battle. We were terrible on kickoff return and we need to be better on kickoff.

There's lots to fix, but there's some encouraging things out there. We start kicking the ball a little bit better, protecting the quarterback, correct some eye violations. I think we're going to have a pretty good team. I do. And as much as it hurt, I think we let one slip away, but there's some encouraging things out there and we need to make a big jump this week.

QUESTION: On competing with Liberty despite interceptions
LOEFFLER: They’re a good team. I equate them very much to a conference champion. I think they've got talent everywhere. I think they're well coached. Just like I said, we've got to get the ball in the perimeter to our guys. The only way that we're going to be able to do that is to protect them, protect the passer. We get that cleaned up and the interceptions will reduce, dramatically, when we protect the passer. Just like I said, there's a couple times in there that I don't know what to tell the guy to be quite honest with you. They had no chance.

Connor [Bazelak] had it on that first third down. The pick six was a bad decision. He didn't kick the motion. We had poor spacing on the play. He misread it. OJ Hilaire was open for a 30-yard gain. He threw it under on the deep over rather than the V-cut, and that was a bad decision.

The decision by [Camden Orth] on the low red, which would have tied the game, he misread the play. His first read was Scott-free open. We might still be playing to be quite honest with you. I know it would have tied the game. The guy was a walk-in touchdown. He missed the read.

The other poor passes were a lot of protection issues. We get that cleaned up and, for the first time, I'm encouraged we can run the ball. I am and that's encouraging.

QUESTION: On using multiple quarterbacks against this upcoming week
LOEFFLER: We are. I really want to watch these guys. Just like I said in the postgame, [Camden Orth] had three interceptions all camp long. So did Connor [Bazelak]. We really protected the ball well and so both of them have been playing at a high level. Unfortunately, we had some unfortunate circumstances occur and I want to see us protect the passer and see what these guys can do. Actually, I know what they can do whenever we protect them.

QUESTION: On special teams
LOEFFLER: We feel like we've got three really, really good guys that can block kicks and block punts in particular. Obviously, the block field goal was a great job. Great push by our defensive line. Dontrez [Brown] got his hands up. We had [Jordan] Oladokun completely off the edge clean. I was really, really proud. Blocking field goals is effort and our defensive line had great effort. They pushed the offensive line back, they got their hands up and they blocked it. This game there were so many different formations in the punt game and there was so many unknowns walking into this game that we really played it tight to the vest. We really didn't go after their punter. One time we did, but once we dial-in on what someone's doing, I think we're going to block some punts again.

QUESTION: On selecting special teams personnel
LOEFFLER: Really fast guys that can bend and get around an edge. It's geometry, I mean, it really is. Those guys that can bend and get on a straight line and they're fast. Obviously, I think Alex [Bayer] does a great job in terms of scheming protections. He does a great job with it, and he has a good idea of when we have an opportunity. We don't waste time with it if we don't think we can block one. He's done a great job with that with that unit.

QUESTION: On the offensive line
LOEFFLER: We settled in better in the second half. The first play of the game, we start off with a play-action pass. We hit Abdul[-Fatai Ibrahim] for I think it was a 15-yard gain on the right hash. We run the ball, we come back on the right hash and had three of the most open wide receivers, they even cover the back. We had a B-gap problem on a full turn that literally all of us in here could have made the throw. The guy was in his face. There were two explosions right there alone that we could have had, and so we were juggling around. We were more concerned about our pass protection than we were our run game. We got to get our past protection cleaned. We will because they have the ability to do it. Once we get that cleaned, I think we're going to have explosive team. We had more explosive runs than we had all year last year. Obviously, the past has been that we can throw the ball, we have a good idea how to throw the ball. We haven't lost how to run routes. We haven’t lost our way of getting the quarterback to get the ball to the right guy. We just need to protect better, and we will.

QUESTION: On quarterback decisions
LOEFFLER: Yeah, there were two that were horrific. One was a play that [Camden Orth has] run for two years here. The first read was wide open for a catch-and-run touchdown. Connor [Bazelak] just flat missed. When he missed the motion, the spacing of the play stunk. Whenever you have poor spacing, you're going to see ghosts and he saw a ghost and that was a horrific decision, plain and simple. We got to clean those two up and those two can get cleaned up.

QUESTION: On mixing run and pass on offense
LOEFFLER: We felt we wanted to be balanced in this game. We got to the point where they started overloading the box. Obviously, the option, that's a new wrinkle in us, equates numbers. A couple times we got an odd defense, they put two outside and the option is done. They’re going to overload the box if they're trying to run the ball and we've got enough playmakers on the perimeter to make some really nice plays. We just have to get all the units working together. The passing game is the hardest part of football. The line has to block, the tight ends have to block, the spacing of the play has to be perfect. The quarterbacks have to do their jobs. That hasn't been our issue during training camp and it turned out to be an issue. If you would have asked our staff if we would have had a problem throwing the ball in this game, we would all say not even close. We were still majorly concerned with the run game. It's college football. It’s kids. It was just the opposite of what we thought, so we need to clean it up and we will.

QUESTION: On seeing more touches for the running backs.
LOEFFLER:  I'd like to see Terion Stewart carry the ball more. [Ta’ron Keith] had just three touches, but three explosions. We didn't convert third downs because we couldn't protect. When you convert third downs, you have more opportunities with more plays and that'll give our backs more opportunities to touch it.

QUESTION: On keeping focus on Eastern Illinois this week
LOEFFLER: Our approach last week, it wasn't about our opponent, it was about us. It's the same thing. If we don't clean up the things, it doesn't matter who you play. In college football, the room for error, you never know who you're playing anymore. I mean, you could walk into a circumstance where you're playing 10 new dudes that gelled quickly over nine months, six months, and the next thing you know, you're playing a heck of a defense or a heck of an offense. You just don't know.

So, it's about us. We need to clean up our mistakes. We need to clean up what we can control and play really, really hard and play more disciplined and just do our jobs. That's all we got to do. The pieces are there. We got to do our jobs and if we do that, we're going to have a chance to win this game.

QUESTION: On quarterbacks taking a step forward this week
LOEFFLER: [Eastern Illinois plays] a lot of looks, a lot of coverage in the back end, a lot of different coverages. They got a new coordinator. He was obviously hired within. So, you see some similarities of what they've done in the past. Again, you're walking into a lot of unknown and we need to have a lot of straight progression plays, take the right drop, protect the quarterback and hit our first open wide receiver, taking the right foot work with the right body position, plain and simple. Most of the time, whenever you come off of a high turnover game there's a red alert, you’re worried. I hate to say this, we made some poor decisions on Saturday, but I haven't seen guys making poor decisions on a consistent basis.
Now, if we go out and throw a bunch of interceptions, now we got we got room to worry. But I believe in [Camden Orth]. I believe in Connor [Bazelak] and that has not been an issue. I just know that at that position, I played the position, there are times that you can make a play with a guy completely unblocked in your lap, and there are times when you're taking a seven step drop or five out of the gun where we're trying to get a chunk play and there's a free runner. Good luck. It's a combination of things. It's a team sport and the passing game is the most team part of football known to man. I promise you we'll get the passing game cleaned up. That's happening.

QUESTION: On focusing on this game and not the next one
LOEFFLER: Our approach is day-to-day, game-to-game. College football is so insane right now.
You can go from a very, very bad team to a very good team quickly. You can think that you've had the right guys in the portal and then go from you think a really good team to bad really quick because you made mistakes with recruiting. The days of going ‘OK, this is a game that we can win, a pushover’ those are all over. They're all over at every level. Maybe not the top five teams in the country, but certainly at our level, those days are over. You got to play week in and week out.

QUESTION: On coming to the game on Saturday
LOEFFLER: The one thing that I loved last year when we played Marshall, that was an unbelievable atmosphere here at BG. I want all our fans to come out, the student section to come out. It's amazing how much our kids enjoy having people in the stands, and it's an advantage. It really is. We were down in Liberty and that was a great, great fan base.

Let’s get everyone out. We're going to play winning football this year. It's going to be an exciting year. We've got a monster beginning, no question about that. It's a monster. But, when all the dust settles, we're going to have a good football team and we're going to have a good record and make a run at it.

QUESTION: On Abdul-Fatai Ibrahim
LOEFFLER: Don't watch his catches, don't watch his route running. Go watch him block. He is a savage on the perimeter, and I mean a savage.
He's an old school wide receiver is what he is.
He can run, he can catch, and he is tough as nails.

I thought all our wide receivers for the first time blocked the perimeter. With what we're doing in the run game, if you're not blocking the perimeter, you have zero shot.

Let's put it this way, if I was the [defensive back], I'd be concerned about, not necessarily his route running ability, which he's very good,
it's you're going to be in for a long day. Let's just put it that way. He’s tough and I love it.
I mean, it gets me goosebumps. I love tough wide receivers on the perimeter. He is a tough guy.

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