Bowling Green is coming off of a frustrating 17-7 loss at home to Northern Illinois this past Saturday.
The only thing they can do is to move forward, and this week, they welcome Kent State (0-6, 0-2) to Doyt L Perry Stadium.
Head coach Scot Loeffler believes this has to be a get-right game against Kent before you indulge deeper into conference play.
So why the sudden shift of gameplay these past three games as opposed to the first three?
Confidence.
“We lost some confidence, and I can’t figure out why. Have not played to the standards of our ability, and we’re playing hesitant, to be quite honest with you. We need to get back to having some confidence and letting it rip and not worrying about making a mistake because I honestly believe that’s what’s occurred these last three weeks,” said Loeffler today at his press conference.
The game plan is what Loeffler believed to have been the problem on Saturday. Drive number one, the game plan was executed.
After that?
Nowhere to be seen.
“What hit us was the lack of ability to stay on schedule and even to get into your game plan. There’s a lot on that call sheet that never even got remotely touched, um, that attacks what they do. And we couldn’t get into it just because we’re behind schedule,” said Loeffler.
Games are won in the trenches, and in these past two games, the offensive line has given up ten sacks. This was an offensive line that allowed just two in the first three games of the season.
The offensive line the past two weeks has left Loefflers mind-boggled.
“That piece is mind-boggling to me. Um, and I can’t figure that out. Week 1 was week. Week 2, week 3, and your offensive line’s playing that way against that type of competition, you’re jumping up and down. I literally after the Texas A&M game go, we’re gonna have a great football team because our offensive line is coming off the ball with a flat back and playing like savages,” said Loeffler “Then I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if it was lack of focus, I don’t know where it went.”
Junior offensive tackle Nate Pabst believes this past weekend was a big wake-up call to not just the offensive line but to the whole team.
“We’re fired up. We’re ready to go. NIU is a wake-up call for all of us. Came in against NIU; thought we had a good game plan, but as coach Loeffler said, we couldn’t touch it because of what we were doing up front,” said Pabst today. “I feel like after watching that game, there’s a big wake-up call upfront for us to do our jobs to the best of our abilities, be physical”
Pabst also realizes that he and his offensive line know that playing perfectly is impossible, especially in their position.
We should focus on winning every snap,” said Pabst. “I feel like these last few weeks, we’ve had that fear of failure, where we’re scared of not being perfect.”
Loeffler believes that this past game against NIU was the best defensive performance of the year, and it all stems from your mindset.
“I said to our defense, it’s the first time, in my opinion, that we, uh, that we played BG Football up front and on defense.
I thought, uh, we were exceptional, and it’s all mindset.”
Defensive lineman Anthony Hawkins preaches the same and believes it’s a step in the right direction for this unit.
“I feel like we played pretty well. You know, it’s not good enough because we still lost, but it’s something a step in the right direction compared to the last couple of weeks. So something to build off of, just stay consistent.”
Also, Hawkins, along with 31 other seniors, will be recognized this Saturday for senior day at the Doyt.
This is a place that Hawkins will hold special to him, and he wants to go out with a bang.
“It’s an amazing place, a beautiful place. I’m going to miss it. You know, Saturdays were amazing. So just one last one, let’s go out with a bang.”
You can catch all the seniors and the action this Saturday, where Bowling Green and Kent will kick off at 3:30 p.m.
