Question: Officially one game left, how would it feel to get a win?
Coach George: It’d be great to end that way. You always look for a way to finish strong and end the season with a victory. In terms of results, that’d bode well for us. But I know the last month or so the results haven’t been there, but we’ve gotten better. I can see that now, quality of play. We’re competing at a high level, doing some really good things, but we’re also doing some really bad things that are preventing us from having a successful outcome.
Those things still need to be addressed from a personnel standpoint, a discipline standpoint and a mindset standpoint, and just being aware of the situation.
So yes, going into the offseason, it would be great to have from a morale standpoint, but we’ve got a lot of work to do to get this roster and this team to the level it needs to be to compete for a championship. So, it’d be great to end that way and have some turkey on top of that.
Question: Who will be starting quarterback this week?
Coach George: We’re still going to assess it. Could see a couple quarterbacks. Could be Lucian, could be Najm, could be Drew. We’re still going to assess the situation. Nothing’s changed, that’s the growing pains of an inexperienced quarterback.
I thought he prepared really well during the week, but when you get under the bright lights and you see live competition, the adrenaline gets going and it’s tough to slow down. That’s expected. The kid has done a phenomenal job preparing and gave us an opportunity to win. We had several opportunities, just not from our quarterback and the passing game but the run game, special forces, certainly on the defensive side to win that ball game.
To be honest with you, it’s been like that for the last month. Lessons are learned; we’re understanding that. So, he’s going to learn from last week and try to go out and execute at a high level.
Question: What challenges do UMass bring to the table?
Coach George: They’ve had some tough breaks. They have a good roster. A competitive roster. They’re playing hard. I know the numbers don’t show that. But this team is very capable.
They’ve played Buffalo tough, their opponents tough. We’re looking for the same thing, we’re trying to go out there and find a way to win the ball game and feel good about ourselves. It’s going to be a battle of wills.
Question: How does it feel to have one of the nation’s best kickers?
Coach George: It’s great, we know when we get in certain range or part of the football field, we’re almost guaranteed points. That feels really good, and he’s reliable. I know I can count on Jackson in critical situations. I mean, look what he did for us in punting. Did a phenomenal job flipping the field, and that’s something we may look at going into next season too.
He takes great pride in his work, he’s very consistent and he’s deserving of all the accolades and attention he’s been getting. He’s been first one in last one to leave, has a great mindset and looks to get better every single week.
Question: What has been your memory of the season so far?
Coach George: They’re still being made. I haven’t had a chance to assess the season in that regard, and my memory right now is a culmination of everything. It’s not like you just pick out one particular moment and that’s your favorite one. It’s the dog days. It’s what we’re going through now. It’s hard when you’re not winning, but what I’m witnessing is that we’re becoming a team because of it. That makes sense.
It’s not the pretty stuff. It’s the hard stuff. Like when we are had our fourth or fifth straight loss and these kids are getting up in front of the classroom every day, talking about their commitments to the team, and you’re hearing real honest feedback and what they’re talking about, hey, they’re saying we take accountability for where we are. Guys, it starts with the small stuff and it’s a real live thing. It’s nothing that’s going through the motions. You’re having to see and feel it in real time. So, the intentions are there for us to get better and that’s encouraging.
That’s a highlight of mine because they keep getting up off the mat, playing hard, playing for each other, showing up when it’s tough. That’s my highlight, honestly. The results are going to come once we continue to pop on the small stuff, go recruiting, you know, tweak the staff, whatever that may look like in the future. But the foundation is being laid, the culture is being established and that’s what we’re saying, and I don’t be caught into the results right now because this has to be tweaked and molded in this phase right now.
Question: What are you looking forward to as the offseason nears?
Coach George: They have an off season. To have a chance to assess what’s needed to, and this is holistically, not just roster wise. But holistically staff, supporting staff, alumni.
Who we need to be in this conference in in the revenue share era, NIL era, attack that and approach it with responsible eyes, not to say we’re going to go out and spend a ton of money in there. I don’t think that’s the answer. I think there’s somewhere in the middle. We’ve got to be honest about that, giving people the right resources for us to be an elite program in the MAC. That’s where it all starts. I’m going to assess every department. I’m going to look at it like with a five-tooth comb and have some tough conversations, but much needed conversations because I’m here to bring the results of the champion and that’s what I’m going to have to do.
So, I look forward to this game to finish strong, to get back on the plane, go to meet with donors, going to meet with alumni, be very visible, paint the vision, and move forward. To recruit, to develop, to teach and set a schedule and the winter and the spring are very, very important and especially within the winter because we’re laying the foundation for the install of your offense, the install of the defense, the install of your special forces unit, the install of your philosophy, and the expectations, and the culture. At that moment, that’s a very important time. That’s a month and a half of work that that’s been missed.
So that’s exciting that that we can clean the slate and kind of really extract out the excellent pieces and parts that we’re going to enhance, keep and add to that.
Queston: First true midweek game, what were your thoughts?
Coach George: My thoughts were, hey, it’s Tuesday. We’re playing the game, you know. Listen, I love the game of the football. We can play in the parking lot, we can play in the grass, pick a plot, we’re out here any day of the week.
That’s how I feel. We can get it on, untimed game. It doesn’t matter to me. That’s always been my mentality.
So, it’s Thursday in real time, but it’s Monday in the MACtion time and it’s awesome because we have a chance to highlight the MAC, the brand itself, and you have a chance to look at the other teams and hear the storylines. Congrats to all the teams that have hit some milestones, taking on struggling programs at Kent State and you had a chance to look at what Toledo was doing, how they might be playing for a championship.
It gives you a good sense of you know how they took ball and how things are done in this league, and it’s national. I have family and friends that hadn’t had a chance to watch a game this year, tuning to see what we’re doing. So that’s been awesome. So, it’s great to highlight the assets of this conference and to see the talent and the quality coaching being done in this conference.
Question: Favorite Thanksgiving food?
Coach George: My favorite Thanksgiving food without question is the sweet potato casserole. Gotta have that. Mac and cheese is a staple. Some people call it dressing, stuffing, I call it dressing.
Cornbread baste, got to have the cornbread stuffing. Homemade gravy. Now I have process in how I prepare my turkeys. I deep fry my turkeys, been done with the same oil for the last five years. So, it’s full of seasoning. It has the perfect seasoning, the perfect everything with it.
It’s a 72-hour process that goes into a brine. It’s homemade. Sits in the brine for about two days, and then I take them out and I inject them with a homemade injectable marinade.
Then it just sits for another 24 hours, wrapped in the refrigerator and all the marinade is getting into the joints, the juices and it’s really getting into the breast and the thighs and so forth and then I take it out that morning on Thanksgiving and I dip it in the hot oil.
It is delicious and it’s going just like that. I can cut it with the plastic butter knife it’s so tender. I’ve been doing that for the like the last almost 20 years, so.
As you can tell, Thanksgiving’s my favorite time of the year. I mean cranberry sauce. You can’t go wrong with cranberry sauce. So that’s what that’s the foundation of my Thanksgiving. Turkey, Mac and cheese, collard greens, the dressing and the gravy is also excellent.
Question: When you look at UMass, what do you see?
Coach George: I see a competitive unit. I do see they’ve had issues the last few weeks stopping the run. They’ve had their challenges at the quarterback position. I think they’re playing three different quarterbacks, much like us.
I can empathize with them in terms of not having the results that they want to see, but they’re a team that’s playing competitive football, regardless of the scoreboard. The scoreboard and the record is not indicative of who they are and what they’re capable of doing. That’s the mindset that we’re approaching this week with.
This is a very good football team that’s capable of making plays and making them at a high level.
Question: How have quarterback issues hindered rebuilding the team?
Coach George: I think, Howard, that it that it’s everything. If you don’t have consistent quarterback play, and instability at that position, you look at our conference, it tells the story.
The bottom three teams are having issues at that position. So, you look at the top tier teams, you look at quarterback play that’s consistent. For us, that’s due to injury, and those are the circumstances and you got to just roll with the punches around that.
But what it does is it forces you to be very creative. We have to find ways to put points on the board to move the ball. You really have to settle guys down because it changes your offense to some degree and you got to tell the receivers to be patient and relax, and when you have opportunities to make a play, you got to make a play.
So it’s not an excuse for us to say, OK, we’re going to just mail in the season and not go out and compete, but we have to be a team that’s 9 units strong, rise above it, and understand that we can’t make certain errors and mistakes. We have to be very disciplined because our margin of error is very small. So I’m pretty sure our priorities are to find stability at that position in the offseason if not this week. That’s kind of how I see it.
Question: How has community support made it easier for you from a program building standpoint?
Coach George: Listen, our community support has been phenomenal. The fans, student section, our campus partners, Derek Van der Merwe is very adamant about supporting our campus partners respecting them and building that relationship. To have them come out and support our athletics in general has been amazing. It’s a huge selling point. It really speaks to the culture of Bowling Green State University prior to me getting here, certainly now that I’m here.
To see the energy back and having people come back to see the product they want to put on the football field has been great. And I’ve got to do my job to put a product out there that they’re proud of. That’s important.
So, we’re all in this together. This is a tremendous partnership. Without the support, we can’t provide meals for our kids. We can’t do certain things in terms giving us the competitive advantage that we need to be elite. In this day and age with revenue share and NIL and the transfer portal, we have to participate in that to some degree. We want to be competitive in that space, but not irresponsible in that space. Having that support and them understanding that is huge, because they’re the differentiator for us moving forward and we’re going to pound the pavement.
My next game day is after Thanksgiving. It’s to get in front of these donors and our key constituents to paint the vision and have them take ownership of where we want to go, who we want to be and what’s needed.
Next year starts right now. That’s how I look at it.
