BGSU football: Scot Loeffler Week 1 press conference

All right. Uh, thank you for coming. Uh Week one, excited to get started. Uh, before we get going, I'd like to announce, uh, who our captains are on defense. Uh Brock Horn, Jordan Leduc and Anthony Hawkins on offense, Peho Wimberley Alex Wolschleger and Levi Grick. So I'm super excited. We couldn't, uh, ask for six better guys to lead our team. They've been in the program, uh for four and five years and, uh, they get it, they understand, uh, what we expect and, uh, they're going to do a great job leading our football team. We had a interesting, uh, training camp to say the least. Um, there was signs of, uh, us performing at a very high level whenever we could get, uh, our whole team on the practice field. It's been a, uh, an injury ridden camp to say the least. Uh There's a couple, uh, injuries that I'm not gonna mention that are, um, that will cause, uh, uh, 22 to 3 players to be out probably for the year. I'll announce that after the game, but, um, we're banged up. We need to, uh, get our team, uh, on the field and have a really good week of practice and, uh, get ready for a really good Fordham team. I think this Fordham team, uh, is a great challenge. Uh, this team, uh, they know how to win. Uh, they've got a great program. They went into Buffalo last year and won and then two years ago, they went into, uh, ou and, uh, lost on the last second field goal. So, uh, very impressed with what they do. Uh, we're going to have to, uh, play our best football like normal. The great thing about college football these days is that, uh, anyone can win at any moment. So, uh, we've got to bring our, a game like we will have like, we'll have to do all 12 weeks. Any questions obviously with, I guess with some of these injuries, is it a matter of, you know, you have the experienced players that backup that are willing to, that are able to step in or all these newcomers gonna have to step right in. It's gonna be a combination of both. There's, uh, um, some older guys that have been in the program that are going to have to step up. We're gonna have to, uh, move some people around. Um, uh, nothing like we planned to say the least. Uh, nothing like what we, uh practice this summer in terms of, uh, personnel, but we'll have to move some guys around. Some guys will have to step up the wonderful thing about our offense and defense and special team system is that we are extremely flexible. We can do a lot, uh, with who we have. It's not like we're set in our ways of only having to do to run one style of offense. So we're gonna take our personnel. We've got good enough players, no question about it. And, uh, we need to put them in the right spots and we need to practice really well this week. Uh, just like I said, the, the concerning piece for me right now, going through training camp, it was very inconsistent and half the reason it was inconsistent is we had, uh, half our guys on either side of the ball participating at the same time, so they really haven't played together in these last three weeks, like you would hope so. Um, hopefully we'll be able to get, uh, as many guys to the dance as we can. We need to have a great week of practice, just like I said, this is a really dangerous football team that, uh, is coming into the doit and we've got to be on our, a game. Yeah, looking at Fordham, obviously one of the best quarterbacks and running backs in the, in the F CS. Uh, I guess how do you prepare for that? Knowing that they can really put up points? Yeah, I think the quarterback's outstanding. Uh, he only, uh, I think through one interception last year. Um, they are very unique. They, they play with tempo, they spread the field, um, they spread you out, they throw the ball around and then they hand it to the back and the back's excellent. So we're going to have to play really well on defense. And, uh, the way that I look at, uh, playing Fordham, uh, it kind of reminds me whenever we were going against Wishbone teams, to be quite honest with you, we got to possess the ball on offense. We gotta run the ball, we got to control the clock. We got to keep, um, this Fordham offense off the field and, um, we got to protect the ball if you look at, uh, Buffalo's loss last year, they had four turnovers, there was a punt blocked and, um, we, uh, we got to make Fordham earn every single thing that they're gonna get. So, um, we'll have a good game plan for them. Um, we'll adapt and adjust to our issues. Uh The, the good thing is, you know, the following week you've, you've got Penn State, then you got to buy and, um, that by couldn't have come at a better time to be quite honest with you. So everything's gonna be dumped into, uh, this week. Uh, we're gonna be laser focus on Fordham and adapt and to adjust to our, to our situation. Obviously, you know, what's the key to just getting off to a good start this season? Obviously, the Liberty game last year with a lot of the turnovers. But what's, what's, yeah, what's took it out of my mouth? What's, what's maybe, is there something different that, you know, heading into this season that you try to preach your guys to get off to a good start? Well, I think, um, I think our offensive line is, uh, really taken giant steps. I'm talking giant steps. Um, they're playing really hard as a unit. They're old, they're big, they're physical and, um, you know, the, the whole key offensively for us is going to be number one, taking care of the ball. I think we have the ability to run the football. We've got, uh, uh, quite a few guys that can run the rock, which is really good and then, uh, obviously protecting the passer, we need to, uh, we need to make sure that, uh, that our quarterback stays upright this year. So I think we've got enough skill guys, uh, around Connor to, uh, to be effective. And, um, you know, the thing with Connor is all he has to do is just, uh, take care of the ball, take the right footwork, go from 1 to 2 to 3 hit his first open wide receiver. And, um, when you have the ability to run the football, the way that I think we're gonna be able to run it, uh, it's gonna create great play action, it's gonna be able to create one on one opportunities for him on the perimeter. And, um, we just need to, uh, take care of the ball. Thank you. Talk about the other side of the ball. Then coach defensively, you guys did so well in the big picture last year, I think premier or a large measure that was on takeaways. Talk about, do you think that's gonna be a, a highlight of this year's defensive side of the ball? The, uh, the thing that, uh I think we do really well in our program is, uh we uh emphasize the ball and um, if you really look at, um, last year, it was a tale of two seasons at the beginning of the year, we were horrific at protecting the ball defensively. We were adequate at getting it back at the first half of the season and then the second half, um we were excellent at protecting the ball and we were ball hogs, we got the ball back defensively, so we emphasize it. Um We have two periods, three periods of practice. That's all we're doing is concentrating on how to get the ball back and how to protect the ball. So that's got to carry over all those great drills and all those things that we do year in and year out about the ball. Uh, it's got to show up, uh this fall, talk about expectations this year as well. Obviously, you're pretty highly regarded in the preseason rankings and a lot of expectations build on the success last year. How has this year differed from last year and the year before in preparation? A one a and it's the message that I've sent, uh, daily to our team. It's, uh, consistency, it's consistency, day in and day out. Um, how we do business, day in and day out is gonna determine, uh, how many games we're gonna win. If you're inconsistent. If you're disciplined part of the time you're gonna get what you deserve. The crazy thing about this game is, uh, you can't cheat the system, you can't cheat it. Uh, if you, if you cheat what you're doing in training camp, if you cheat what you're doing in the summertime, um, the football gods will, will pay you, pay you back. So we need to make sure that, uh, we do a great job of being consistent, uh, having discipline and, uh, playing together and completely just worrying about what's important. There's so many things right now in college football that's out there that, uh, are distractions. They're everywhere. And, uh, we've got to be disciplined enough to worry about what's important, put, uh, uh, the other things to rest that aren't important and, uh, come out and be selfless and be a team and everything will take care of itself. Start off the season with an action game Thursday night. And I'm curious, we've got so many kids coming into town. You've heard enrollments up 22% over two years. Ago. How does that, how important is it that those kids come out? Derek talks about the orange wave, et cetera. How important does it get a big crowd in here? Thursday? Yeah. I think we'll have a great crowd. I really do and I want to encourage everyone to, uh, to come out. It's gonna be a beautiful evening. It's supposed to be a little warm I heard. But, uh, it's gonna be, uh, perfect. So we need to get all our students, all the, uh BG community out here. Uh Our team plays, our team likes to play in front of people and, uh, I think we've done a great job. Our kids have done a great job in the community. Uh, they've conducted themselves in such a first class manner. I think, uh, people in the community recognize that, uh, these kids, uh, are, are good people, they're good students, they love BG. And, um, so, yeah, I would love to see as many people come out and support this group. I, I really like this group in terms of they're really good people. They've got great parents and, um, you know, we just got really, really concentrate on them not being selfish and, uh, really gotta concentrate on what's important. And just like I said, if, if we get off off kilter worrying about things that, uh, that are out there in the, in the outside world, you, you can get, it could catch it pretty quick. Uh, can you just talk about, you know, Pasha Wimberley being named a captain despite, obviously, you know, he suffered the injury, he's gonna be out for the season, but just the respect that he has on the team and, and from his, uh, his players that was, um, that was a devastating whenever he got hurt. Uh, this spring, it was a non contact, uh, injury. Uh, it was like slow motion. You just watched it occur and you knew that it wasn't good. And, uh, the good thing is, is that, uh, um, his rehab is coming along quite well. Uh, he's, he's running already, which is great. But, uh, this, the team loves him. He played with, uh, a ton of juice, ton of energy. Um, we call it the Peon way and, uh, we're, we feed off that and every single time that, uh, we're not playing hard or, or, um, not doing things the right way. I, I always refer back to him. Are we doing it his way? And if we can somehow find a way to be consistent and disciplined and do the things that Peon did day in and day out, um, we're gonna be successful. Peon is gonna be successful because he is a hard working, great human being. 38 student. He does everything right off the field and, uh, you know, so having success, there's no, there's no secret sauce. I mean, it's doing things right consistently being disciplined and, uh, working as hard as you possibly can at your trade and that's what he does with kind of going back to the injuries. You know, is there like a message just to try to keep, you know, keep spirits high when, you know, when players are getting hurt, is there a message of the team, you know, as far as just, you know, trying to push through that and, and everything? Well, I think in every season, uh, it occurs, it just occurred a little bit, uh, earlier than what it normally does. And, um, you know, the, the injuries that did occur, um, were not caused from, um, over practicing. They weren't caused from, um, uh, being foolish in terms of rep count. Uh, that just happened unfortunately. But, um, we'll, uh, adapt and adjust. Hopefully we get some people back, um, this week and, uh, the big thing, just like I said, I, I know we're gonna get people, enough people back to, uh, uh, to practice really well. We got to practice well this week, in my opinion. Any more questions for coach? Yeah. 00, hold up. So, um, what's the process like, um, you know, starting at this point in the week and then having to do a Thursday game, uh, you know, obviously the, uh, midweek ma action is a ways away but doing it for the first game of the season. What's that process? Like? We're pros, we're pros at it, I mean, I think we've had more matching games around here. I think we had four last year. Right? I wanna say. So we, we know the process. Um, I think the, the big positive, uh, very similar to Mac during the, uh, action season is that, uh, you know, we're still in training camp. We don't start school here till Monday. So we've got a huge advantage today as our s uh, as our Saturday tomorrow will be our Sunday and Saturday will be our Monday and Tuesday's practice, which is huge is on Sunday. So we're gonna be able to take care of or take advantage of still being in training camp, being able to watch extra film. Um, so, um, being able to eat and train properly, get sleep, I think is really important. And then, um, you know, that Wednesday practice always that first practice, the day of, of, of when classes begin is normally, uh, challenging. Um, but we practice in the morning. So we're gonna be able to practice in the morning. Then the kids go to class in the old school days when you practice in the afternoon. Uh, the kids would wake up in the morning, they would go to class in that first practice. I don't know what it is. Every single place that I've ever coached. The practice is horrific. And, um, so we're gonna be able to avoid our two most important practices of the week, uh, without school starting. So we're gonna need to take advantage of it and practice really well this week.