Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck discusses Gophers' recent defensive struggles
On Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the Minnesota Golden Gophers dropped their third game in their last four and allowed 525 yards of total offense to the Northwestern Wildcats in a 38-35 loss.
It was a performance for Northwestern that was well above their season averages. Prior to Saturday’s matchup, the Wildcats averaged just 21.9 points and 340.7 total yards per game.
The defensive performance marked the third straight game that the Gophers’ defense has allowed 450 yards or more of total offense and the fifth time in their last seven games. Despite the struggles of the Gophers’ defense, Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck says he “loves” what defensive coordinator Danny Collins is doing.
“I love what Danny’s doing,” Fleck said. “I love how hard our defensive staff works.”
Fleck believes one issue within the Gophers’ defense is not making the plays that are there to be made during the course of a game while also pressing at others.
“Part of it’s we just gotta be able to make the plays that present themselves,” he continued. “I think at times, throughout the entire year, we press here and there. We’re pressing to go get the ball.”
Despite the Gophers’ struggles on defense, Minnesota’s offense delivered one of its better performances, with quarterback Drake Lindsey completing 20-of-30 passing attempts for 264 yards and four touchdowns.
“The details matter. We’re talking about the fundamentals and the attention to detail of the fundamentals,” Fleck explained. “Plugged into the scheme, they deserve their own discipline. Those need to be working hand in hand. If we’re supposed to be in an alignment that’s exactly that, be in that alignment exactly, and then it’ll then from there be the football player you need to be.”
Ultimately, Fleck takes responsibility for Minnesota’s defensive struggles in recent weeks.
“But some of that we’re not doing well enough. Again, it all falls on me to start with the teaching piece of all of that.”
When it comes to the trend of the Gophers’ struggles on defense, Fleck doesn’t view it as such, instead noting that each game and week is its own entity.
“I don’t look at the third straight game,” he said. “This is one game championship season. That’s it. We’re all in one. This game has nothing to do with last game. It has nothing to do with the week before. They’re all different kind of all different opponents that all do different kinds of things.”
Whether true or not, there is little doubt that the Gophers’ defense is trending in the wrong direction. Minnesota has just one regular season game remaining, a matchup against rival Wisconsin next Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium.
