Scot Loeffler Monday Press Conference Transcript (Ball State)

Scot Loeffler Press Conference
Nov. 18, 2024
Bowling Green, Ohio

SCOT LOEFFLER OPENING STATEMENT: Thank you for coming. [I] appreciate you guys following Bowling Green football. Before we get going, I wanted to give a couple shouts out to first off, the women's volleyball team. [They’ve had an] unbelievable season [and were] regular season [MAC] champs. That was a heck of a performance this weekend. I know they have the [MAC] Tournament, I believe, coming up this weekend, but that was great. Our men's soccer team had an unbelievable run, and unfortunately came up a little short, but Eric Nichols and our team – they played really well. So, there were some exciting things that happened this weekend. I wish the soccer team would have been able to pull it out, but they've had an unbelievable year, and they're really good, and sometimes you just fall a little short. He does a great job around here.

Ball State – I think Ball State could very easily be playing for the Mid-American Conference Championship. When you look at this, and I showed this to our team, Ball State [scored] 48 [and] Buffalo won – three-point loss. Ball State [scored] 21 against a ridiculous Miami team – six point loss. Ball State, beats Northern Illinois, which is hands down one of the better teams in our conference – won by two. Ball State vs. Kent State – won by two. Ball State 42, Western Michigan, 45 and we know what Western is. They're a really good team – three-point loss. Then, they lost to CMU by three. So, if you really look at it's like total of 14 points and four losses. I have a ton of respect for Mike [Neu]. I thought he did a great job there. Unfortunately, they made a decision to change, but he's one of the winningest coaches there, and he's done a great job. [It] just shows you how fragile winning and losing is. It's one or two plays. This is a really good football team that we're playing. We're going to have to be on point. It's really dangerous. I think they're really good on offense. They score a ton of points. Their defense has improved. They're aggressive on special teams, and I know Colin Johnson will do a great job in Mike's presence. With that being said, any questions?

QUESTION: With the coaching change for Ball State, does anything change in preparation for this game?
LOEFFLER: No, not at all. We can't control who's the head coach and who's not, but what we can control is our preparation and our actions. We're really challenging the guys to make this the best week of practice we've ever had. We had a great Monday today. I thought the guys were locked in, and I think they understand that we're playing a really good team. This team could very easily be playing for a shot at this thing. It's fascinating when you look at these scores and who they played. Some of these ball clubs that are on here that they played and played close is a compliment to them. I know it's Senior Day down there. The kids will play really hard, and we have to match their intensity. We have to keep doing what we're supposed to do [which] is take care of the ball and win the explosion battle. We have a huge challenge in front of us. We have to be locked in, and this is a big-time ball game for sure.

QUESTION: When the team is playing at this level in all three phases of the game during this win streak, what is the message? Is it to keep that going, or is it about continuous improvement?
LOEFFLER: It's all about improving. We still haven't played a complete game. I think we've played some good games, but, you're striving for that perfect game, and there's no such thing as that. So, you're always chasing perfection, but we have to make sure that that we're locked in. When we're locked in and we're focused on doing the things that we're supposed to do, being great teammates, locked into our jobs, locked into our preparation, playing discipline, playing really hard – that's when we're good. We've shown, particularly in the middle of the year, that when we're not, we're just OK. We want to be great, and to be great, you have to be doing all those little things all during the week to give yourself a chance.

QUESTION: How do you plan on stopping Ball State’s quarterback Kadin Semonza, who is ranked No. 1 in the MAC in passing?
LOEFFLER: I think he's a really, really good player, and I don't know if you can stop him. You have to control the explosion battle with him. He's a very accurate passer. They have weapons on the perimeter. They have a really good tight end [Tanner Koziol]. The backs are good, and they're playing really, really good offensive football. We have to slow them down. We have to try to make them kick field goals in the red [zone] rather than scoring touchdowns in the red. Offensively, we have to play really, really well. We have to possess the ball and find ways to score when we have it. That's always a fine line. You have to keep the ball yet score. When you're playing a really good offensive team, the team that we're playing, you have to be on point in all three phases to control such a good offense.

QUESTION: Former BGSU football player Karl Brooks blocked the game-winning field goal attempt to seal a Green Bay Packers win over the Chicago Bears yesterday. How did you feel seeing that play?
LOEFFLER: I didn't see it, but I heard about it. We're working on Ball State right now, and we heard that Karl blocked a field goal against the [Chicago] Bears to win the game. Anytime we see a BG guy out there doing good things, that's great. [I’m] happy for Karl.

QUESTION: Brock Horne and Patrick Day will tie the program record for games played with 55. What have they meant to the program over the years?
LOEFFLER: All these older guys that have been around, my hat's off to them. They've been through a huge rebuild, plain and simple. Those were some long years, let's just put it that way, and they stuck together. They're giving themselves a chance to have meaningful football in November, and we have to take it one week at a time. Those guys have to lead. We have a bunch of old guys that know what it's supposed to look like in November, and we have to go down to Ball State and play our very best. This is a super dangerous football team, and I know playing on the road in this league, particularly on Senior Day, you have to bring it. Two o'clock in the afternoon in Muncie, we're going to have to find a way to play our best game.

QUESTION: The team has won three straight road conference games. What has been the key to the success on the road this year?
LOEFFLER: I don't know if it matters home or away. Obviously, we love playing at home just because of our fans and the community and being around the people that support us. In my opinion, we are methodical on how we do game week. We’re methodical if it's on the road. We're methodical if it's at home. We just need to make sure that our process is intact and we're doing everything the right way to give ourselves a chance. If you don't have a great walk through on Thursday, if your walk through stinks on Friday, and you're not locked in – I've said this a thousand times – in this conference, you could be in trouble quick. We have to be 100% locked in, 100% focused, extremely disciplined, practice, our tail off, prep our tail off, do all the things off the field the way that we've done in the training room, in the weight room, sleeping, diet, go to school, get your work done, and then get to Saturday and have a bunch of confidence that you did things right during the week, which then gives you a chance to play with great confidence and let it rip.

QUESTION: There was quite a battle of tight ends against Penn State with Harold Fannin Jr. and Tyler Warren. There is another good matchup this week with Fannin and Tanner Koziol. What are your thoughts on another intriguing tight end matchup and how important is that position?
LOEFFLER: That position is valuable. In my opinion, when you can run the ball enough and you can use the tight end, it really opens up the wide receivers. It's a match up nightmare. [Tanner Koziol’s] a match up nightmare for us. I know Harold [Fannin Jr.] is a match up nightmare, but there's some really good tight ends in this league. This week, we're featuring two really good ones. They do a great job of getting him in multiple positions, similar to us. They do a great job in the red [zone] with him. He's a problem on third down. I think they're leading the conference in third down efficiency. I believe so. I think they're 50-some percent, which is unbelievable. Obviously, the quarterback is finding him and doing a great job of throwing him open. They've done a great job. I think offensively, they do as good a job as anyone in the conference.

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