Scot Loeffler Monday Press Conference Transcript (WMU)

Scot Loeffler Press Conference
Nov. 7, 2024
Bowling Green, Ohio

SCOT LOEFFLER OPENING STATEMENT: Good afternoon. Thank you for coming and following Bowling Green football. [I’d] like to start out [by saying I’m] super happy with our last win. It was ugly. It was a battle, just like we anticipated. We thought we would go up [there] and have terrible weather conditions, which we did. I thought we packed our defense. Offensively, I thought we did enough, particularly in the second half, to win the game. I thought our special teams were good. Any time that you find a way to win on the road in this conference, that's a huge win for us. [We] have a huge challenge ahead of us this week. I think Coach Lance Taylor at Western [Michigan] has done an unbelievable job in one year of flipping the roster. Offensively, they maybe have the most dangerous back in the conference. He's excellent – No. 3 [Jaden Nixon] from Oklahoma State. The other two backs [Jalen Buckley and Zahir Abdus-Salaam] are excellent as well. I think their offensive line might be the best in the league. [Their] quarterback [Hayden Wolff] is playing well. They have plenty of skill on defense [and have] a good scheme – excellent scheme. They didn't tackle as well as they have been. They did not tackle as well against Northern Illinois as what they have shown on tape, but they're very willing [and] very able. They play hard. The front plays well. The coverage is coordinated. [They’re] very well coached on both sides of the ball, and on special teams we're going to have to be excellent. We have to find a way to gain an advantage on special teams, because I think both special teams are very well coached also. So, [it’s] a huge challenge ahead of us. We need to fill ‘The Doyt.’ This is a huge game for us, and you can't ask for anything [more] for the second to last home game having the number one team in the conference come in and play us. It's going to be a great game. We need all the students. We need the community. We need all the faculty. Anyone associated that's a fan at BG, we need you in the stands. I think this is going to be an excellent football game on Tuesday night.

QUESTION: These last three games, the team hasn’t trailed at any point in the game. Have you noticed your players being more comfortable in the game, especially later in the fourth quarter?
LOEFFLER: That's a complicated question, actually. I don't know that. The games go in such different directions. We've just been fortunate to be ahead. Again, the crazy things that happened in November, particularly in MACtion, we could go out and be up 14 or down 14 in a blink and it doesn't matter. There's a process that our kids go through. We talk about having 100% concentration on just that play. We don't worry about the scoreboard. We concentrate [on] our job each play, play really hard on each play, try to do our job to the best of our ability on each play, and embrace the process. If you embrace the process the right way, you play more free. You don't get tight about the score or the circumstances. I like how our kids have been handling our process, and they've been doing that for four years. We've been training our kids when we were terrible around here. When you're down 38-0, you don't worry about the scoreboard. You concentrate on your job on that play. When we've gotten better [and] when you get ahead, you still can't look at the scoreboard, because someone can come from behind, and if you're not locked in and focused on doing your job each and every play, you can find yourself in a world of trouble in this league. I think our kids are just embracing the process. They're older. They understand it. Obviously, we would love to continue to stay ahead of the scoreboard throughout the game, but that's probably unrealistic in the span and who we're playing these next three weeks.

QUESTION: A huge factor these last three games is no turnovers, a first in your tenure. How critical has it been not losing the ball, especially like the other night when it's pouring down rain in the second half?
LOEFFLER: I have to give credit to [running backs coach] Brian White. He's in charge of the football. He's in charge of ball security, and he does a great job on both sides of the ball in terms of teaching how to get the ball back and in terms of teaching how to carry the ball. We do a bunch of drills. It's just not coach talk [that] we're going to protect the ball. We actually work at it, and we still do two or three periods a week on protecting the ball and how we carry it whenever you're getting ready to fall to the ground, how we roll our shoulder whenever we're getting pursued from the back end, how we keep it high and tight. There's a lot of drills that we do. The credit goes to, first off, Brian White for his attention to detail in that area, and second to the coaches for coaching it and make it … It's our program. We talk about the ball is the program. Then third – the most important people – the players. They bought into, ‘It's all about the ball. The ball is the issue.’ We have to continue that. Obviously, it starts with Connor [Bazelak]. It starts with [the] quarterback-center exchange. I think Connor has been excellent with decision making. He's been excellent about protecting the ball. He has to continue to do that. [It’s] just not him. It's the entire team from the left tackle making sure that he doesn't have a missed assignment so we don't get a blind side block. Everyone's in charge of ball security around here.

QUESTION: Connor Bazelak went over 2,000 passing yards on the season for the fourth time in his career. With the way he's been managing and controlling the game, is that what you envisioned when he transferred to Bowling Green?
LOEFFLER: He's improved immensely. I thought – and I've said it a bunch – I thought his first five games last year were still learning. [He] made some poor decisions with the football. Not all of them were his fault. I'm not putting all that blame on him, of course not. I can say this, and I'm not afraid to say this, he's the best quarterback in this league. There's a lot of good players, a lot of really good players, but he is the best quarterback in this league. [With] what we ask him to do with protection, what we ask him to do about protecting the ball. He's underneath center. He's in the shotgun. We do movement pass. He's just not throwing RPOs. He's playing like it's pro football, and he needs to continue to play that way. I think his leadership skills have immensely changed. He's the best quarterback in this league.

QUESTION: The team has played extremely well on the road this season. However, there have been some tough home losses this year and last year. What will it take to be able to get that really significant and clutch home win?
LOEFFLER: Obviously, we love playing in front of our fans. It's nice being at home. [I] love being at home. We feel comfortable here. That's where we practice, but at the end of the day, as soon as that foot hits the ball, it doesn't matter if we're playing out in the back parking lot. It doesn't matter if we're playing in crummy weather. It doesn't matter if they ask us to play on Thursday at noon. It doesn't matter. It's irrelevant. We like having a great fan base, because we feed off of the fans and all of that, and we love playing in front of our great community. At the end of the day, football is football, and it doesn't matter where you're at. You have to lock in. You have to focus, and you have to find a way to do your job and win. We've had some tough losses on the road. We've had some tough losses at home. We're in the MAC for crying out loud. There's a lot of things that are going on that are tough in this league, but we're excited about being at home, and we're excited that we're playing a really good Western Michigan team. It's going to be a battle. Our team has to be completely focused. We have to be locked in. We have to play with relentless effort. We have to protect the ball, get the ball back, find a way to stop these backs in this run game [and] keep our eyes disciplined, because they have some great play action passes, and they know how to throw the ball. On offense, we have to find a way to score and possess the ball. We have to keep it away from this Western Michigan offense. I think they're excellent.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results