Gary Goff discusses McNeese’s 0-4 start, addresses roster changes

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - There’s no hiding that McNeese hasn’t gotten off to the start they would have hoped for this year as they are 0-4 for the first time since 1954, and on Monday, Pokes Head Coach Gary Goff didn’t hide from it.

“It’s just, it’s where we’re at, it is, we’ve got to fight through this, we’ve got to hit the reset button because now we’re in conference play, there’s still a lot of football left, and there’s a lot of fight in us. The message to the team is; you young bucks, it’s time to grow up, you’re not young anymore, you’ve got four games under your belt, and we’re not going to have any quit to us, we’re going to go out there and fight. We’ve got to learn how to play football together and it’s not easy when we’ve got such a young roster,” said Goff.

McNeese led Eastern Illinois by as many as 21 on Saturday, as they held a 28-7 lead in the second quarter, and led 28-21 in the fourth quarter, but after the Cowboys failed to score in the second half, the Panthers scored 24 unanswered points, capped off by a 56 yard field goal with 20 seconds remaining, giving McNeese their fourth loss of the year and sending them to 0-4 for the first time in 69 years.

“They (Eastern Illinois) started gaining momentum, really just by handing the ball off, again and again and again, I mean the Flowers kid, we couldn’t tackle him. I think when you can sustain drives, and continue rushing the ball like that, you take the life out of a team right there, and that’s exactly what happened, and then of course as our luck would have it they hit a 57 (56) yarder, I’ve never been in a game where a 57 (56) yarder was hit, and he drilled it,” said Goff. “They wore us down, and at the end they were winning the line of scrimmage, without a doubt.”

Goff also discussed McNeese being 0-4 for the first time in 69 years saying “I say this with no ego, but we did change a program before that had never won, and this is Tiffin 2.0, I mean every single thing we’re going through right now, me and my wife talked about it, like here we are again, it’s de ja vu. You can’t skip a process of rebuilding a program the right way, you just can’t, and people might not want to hear that, or might not want to believe that, but there’s going to be some suffering, some growing pains, and you find out who is all in, and who isn’t and for any of those who aren’t all-in, they’re not going to help us get to where we want to go anyway, so I’m ok with that.”

Goff was also asked about the statuses of kick returner/running back Cam Thomas, wide receivers Jalen Johnson and Marcus Peterson, and linebacker Kylen Armstead on Monday, to which he announced that Thomas, who was the week one Southland Conference Special Teams Player of the Week, Johnson, and Armstead, are no longer with the team, while Peterson, who hasn’t recorded any stats in either of McNeese’s past two games, is still with the team, but may or may not dress out for Saturday’s game against Nicholls.

Goff did not expand on why Thomas, Johnson, and Armstead are no longer with the team, but did say “We’re going to be a team.”

For the full press conference from Monday, click here.

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