Everything that Minnesota football head coach P.J. Fleck said on Monday — Nebraska week
Minnesota head football coach P.J. Fleck met with the media on Monday ahead of the Golden Gophers’ Friday night showdown against the No. 25 Nebraska Cornhuskers at Huntington Bank Stadium. Here’s everything that Fleck had to say on Monday.
Editor’s note: All questions are paraphrased
P.J. Fleck’s Opening Statement
Fleck: “I took the scenic route to get here, sorry. Paul took me through the underground passages to get here. So, anyway, first and foremost, I just want to thank our fans, and hopefully everybody had an elite homecoming, a safe homecoming, and got a chance to celebrate after that win. That was a huge, huge win for us. But more importantly, when you’re talking about everybody coming back and over 200 alumni and fans were outstanding, and our student body was tremendous, and I know it could be a long day for people. So, thanks for being there and showing up and being there the whole game.
So, it meant a lot to us and definitely gave us an advantage. But we’re happy to be 1-0. We got a lot of work to do, a lot of areas of improvement, and we look forward to doing that this week with a ranked Nebraska opponent coming in here. A really good five-on-one football team is coming in here on Friday night. So, we got a lot of work to do in a short week. So, we’ll open up for questions.”
Q: Can you talk about one-possession games and the through line in your last two wins?
Fleck: “Yeah, that’s a great question. It came down to the ball. One possession games usually come down to the ball. This one was four to one, you know, a plus-three margin. If you want to call it a plus two margin, you can do that because the last play, when it’s kind of a desperation play, I get that piece. But we had, we were plus one against Rutgers.
It kind of came down to the ball. With the parity of this one possession games usually come down and with the changes of our league and what’s going on within our conference and the 18 teams, I mean, you’ve got to be able to win close games. You have to be able to do it. It doesn’t matter if it’s Minnesota or if it’s whoever, like you’ve got to find ways to win close games, and talked about that all offseason.
And if you look at our best seasons we’ve had here, eight wins or more, we’re usually pretty good in one-possession games and if we’re not, what could it have been if we did win those one-possession games? You know, but right now we’re two and O, and we’re one and O this past week, and found a way to win those games and I think it was critical that our players made big time plays and huge moments.
You know, when you look at just the stat sheet, and you take the turnovers away from that stat sheet, you probably look at the stat sheet and go, okay, Purdue won. But then you add the ball, which the ball’s a program here. It’s the number one thing we talk about. That changes everything. It changes the story of the game. So that’s why it is the number one statistic. We got to take care of the football, and we got to get a lot of takeaways, and that was the difference in the game, and then we were able to make, excuse me, big plays and big moments when we needed to.
And our best players were able to do that, and that didn’t matter if it was Koi’s pick six, or Kerry Brown’s interception at the one-yard line, which was a massive interception for us. Cause who knows what that leads to? What type of points lead to? You know, Jai’Onte’ McMillan’s play at the very end, which was a huge play for us. Koi’s fourth down run, Jamison’s catch. I can go on and on. I mean, huge moments by our best players making plays. So that was critical for us.”
Q: How did the Ohio State game impact the way your team played against Purdue?
Fleck: “It’s a good question, Dave. I think, you know, this, the way we run our program is, it’s very, it’s coach speak. It’s going to sound generic, but it’s the one and O mentality. When you walk into our program, and I say this a lot, when you walk into our program on Sunday, you don’t really know if we won or lost. I mean, you really don’t.
We celebrate for 30 seconds, you know, inside that team meeting room, literally pat each other on the back, high five each other, tell each other how good we are, each other, the four walls, and then it’s over. Put our leather vests on, we go back to work. We go back to work and finding out how we got to whatever’s the result that was, how did we get to that result, and then what can we control to get better? We can’t control the opponent. We can control ourselves. We control our fundamentals, techniques, our discipline, but within those fundamentals and technique, what are those fundamentals and technique? Which ones do we have to really emphasize, which ones do we have to really improve in? Because you only have so much time, and you get what you emphasize, and so we have to dissect and peel back that onion of exactly what we’re going to do to get that football team better from the Ohio State game and respond.
And I thought our guys definitely respond. It doesn’t mean everything’s going to be perfect. We evaluate things sometimes, whether it’s the media or coaches, from a perfect perspective or an ideal perspective, like there isn’t an opponent trying to beat us and doing the exact same thing. I look at it through a realistic lens of what can we actually pinpoint of why we played the way we played, and how can we get that better, and I think our coaches do a good job of that, and we got better last week in a lot of areas, and there’s a lot of areas we have to improve from Purdue to a ranked Nebraska team on Friday night. I mean, that’s a huge challenge for us. We have to get a lot better in a short amount of time.”
Q: Why do you think the team has played so well against Nebraska?
Fleck: “I don’t, I don’t, I’m not going to sit there and say it’s one opponent. Everything we look at is a one-game championship season. This Nebraska team has nothing to do with seven years ago or five years ago. This is Matt Rule’s 2025 team of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. That is very, very deep, very good. I did an interview this morning, and somebody said, I think they’re finding themselves. I said, I think they found themselves. I don’t think they’re looking; they’ve found themselves. They’re ranked 25th in the country.
Matt Rule has got incredible depth. He’s a wonderful football coach, incredible human being. I’ve known him for a long time. You look at their offense, I mean, Ryola’s playing better than he’s ever played. They’ve got a very deep running back room. They’ve got three to four wilds who can flat out fly and make huge plays and change the game instantly. They’re big up front, big tight ends, and then defensively, I mean, they blitz an awful lot. They do a lot in different fronts. I mean, they’re new front all the time. They can do a lot of things out of different packages. They’re long, they’re big, they’re physical. So this is the 2025 version of Nebraska, which is the only one I’m really concerned about. So we’re zero and zero against Nebraska in my mind.”
Q: How would you assess the physicality from your lines on Saturday?
Fleck: “Yeah, I think we’re getting better. You know, I think that’s the thing that you look at it. I mean, two games, we need to start faster. I mean, I think that just, whether it’s offense, defense, special teams. Hey, look at the two games that we did win. We’re down 14, nothing, and 10, nothing. I mean, that’s, we’re spotting somebody points before you even get started and get into your rhythms. We got to start faster. It doesn’t mean we’re going to start faster, but you’re emphasizing it. You’re coaching it, you’re teaching it. Schematically, through a coach’s eyes, you’re doing everything you can that way, and the players have to know that too.
and then it’s all got to come together. But we know, we talk about our, we teach them that constantly. Start fast, accelerate middle, finish strong. Just because you teach it doesn’t mean you’re actually going to get it. You got to find a better way of teaching it, and then our players have to do a better job absorbing that and going out there and executing. But I see improvement, but we’ve got to get away from a lot of things that we like to do pretty quickly, and that’s a credit to our opponents as well.”
Q: Does what the offense saw against Ohio State help prepare the Gophers for the Nebraska defense with similar tendencies?
Fleck: “Well, they’re two different football teams, Dave, but that’s a very valid question. I think that’s, you’re seeing more and more college defenses do a lot more NFL systems. Their coordinator came over from the National Football League, very similar to Patricia. I’m not saying they’re similar in just their schematics. I’m saying they’re similar, maybe the way the NFL defenses think, because they create a lot of issues for you. Whether, I mean, it’s three, four, five down fronts and mixing it up and blitzing all the time and moving guys around and they’ve got a lot of length, and a lot of skill, and a lot of depth, and they use it very well.
But besides that, Dave, I mean, that’s not a lot of care, not running the exact same scheme. But when you’re talking about multiple different fronts, coverages, similarities in those two, you take out the game states of falling in big holes and having to get away from the running game.”
Q: You look at the offensive staff room, what are kind of the solutions, fixes, ideas to kind of get the running game going?
Fleck: “Well, I don’t think you can take that out because I feel like we can do what we need to do. We haven’t been able to do it very successfully to this point. I truly, that’s the way I feel about that. We’ve got really good guys up front, tough guys up front, guys that are working incredibly hard. It’s kind of how the games have worked themselves out and look at our last three games, again, down 14, nothing, played Ohio State. We’re up three to nothing. That didn’t last very long. We’re down 14, three and going for it on a fourth and two. Right? And now we’re down 21, three, and then we’re down 10, nothing to start the game against Purdue. So I don’t know if you can take those things out, Andy, because you’re going into a game with a certain mindset, and then as that game starts to unfold, you’ve got to respond to how that game’s being played out as a head coach. So we have to execute better across the board, period. From a player’s standpoint, from a coaching standpoint, I’ve got to be able to get our guys to start fast, accelerate, middle, and finish strong, no matter what is being called, run or pass.”
Q: What stands out about Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola?
Fleck: “Everything. He’s really improved, you know, and that’s a credit to him and Dana and their whole offensive staff and you look at his completion percentage of where he is now. He’s decisive. His decision-making’s decisive. He’s knowing when to run. He’s knowing when to stay in the pocket. He’s extending plays. He’s using his feet. You know, he is a true passer that can run, where maybe at the beginning, when you’re a really young player and you can run, sometimes you use your feet and become a runner instead of just a natural thrower. So I think he’s really developed into an elite quarterback in this league, and that’s a credit to them and their staff and the supporting cast, because he’s got a lot of really good players around him who can make plays, and they’re allowing them to make those plays, because they are, they really are, and they’re explosive on offense.”
Q: How do you tweak things with one day less in preparation?
“Yeah, great question. You know, we brought everybody in yesterday and were able to put Purdue to bed, and then our coaches went immediately. We did some Indy on the field with some of the younger guys for the development. Did a lot of training room treatment, strength and conditioning room with the guys who played in the game, but our coaches went right on to Nebraska, and we were able to get six, seven hours yesterday on Nebraska, and then all day game planning today.
It just speeds it up. So tomorrow is more of a first and second down type practice, maybe a little third down at the very end. Our coaches are grinding on that, and then Wednesday, it’s really technically a technique Thursday for us, which would be our walkthrough day. So it’s a combination of a group practice and walkthrough, and then Thursday is technically a fast Friday for us. So again, same type of thing, combination of a fast Friday, 30 minute practice, but a little walkthrough in there too, because you got to make sure that they have their legs. You know, the end of that football game, you know, when it was done, I mean, you technically have less than six days before you’re on the field again playing.
So our strength and conditioning room staff has done a great job with the recovery of what we need to do. Our nutritionist, Maddie’s done a really good job of getting our guys of what the plan they need to do there, and then Mike Sipniak and our entire training staff and doctors have done a great job of talking about what we need to do as an organization to make sure we can play our best on Friday night. So guys are really bought into that and feel like the changes are necessary and appropriate.”
Q: How has Jai’Onte’ performed stepping into a bigger role in the secondary?
Fleck: “He is a selfless player. Jai’Onte’ played 30 plus snaps at corner. He can play nickel, he can play the dime, he can play safety. He’s very versatile. He’s played a lot of football in his career. So I’m just really proud of the selfless teammate that he is. We have versatility. If that’s one position we do have depth, then we have versatility. Hopefully over the next few weeks, we can get some guys back, but we’ll see on that. But I really like where Jai’Onte’ is mentally. He’s really worked very hard at making himself the player that he is, and his commitment level to his teammates and the selfless piece of that.
I think that to be a great teammate in 2025, in a very selfish world, you have to be selfless. You have to be willing to do maybe something outside your comfort zone, especially as we start to dwindle these rosters down to 105. We’ve always been around that same number, but it’s just being, it’s getting harder and harder to do when you’re looking at practices and scout teams and management of injuries. It’s not like the NFL, and I think a lot of people that maybe don’t follow college football constantly don’t know that, okay, let’s say you have 105 guys on the roster, that’s for the whole year. That’s fine. But especially when you’re building your rosters with pay for play, and you’re paying players and NIL, and all this other stuff, there’s only so much depth you have that if you do have injuries, you can’t go to the free agency. You can’t go to the portal in season and buy people out like the NFL and free agency, and I think some people just think the portal’s always open. Why can’t we just go get ourselves a this or a that, or an athlete here, or a fill gap here? You can’t do that. So that’s always kind of been what made college football a little bit different.
But I think Jai’Onte’ has shown that, the ability to go in there and be a great teammate.”
Q: TJ, when Jon Nestor transferred here, what were your observations?
Fleck: “I think he’s a tremendous football player. He’s a competitor. He’s a great athlete. He cares. He’s a wonderful teammate. He’s very loyal, trustworthy, and courageous. I would say if somebody described my son that way, I’d be really proud. So I think you’re on the right track, Dave. He’s a really good football player.
The one thing I love about him is he wants to keep getting better. I think this culture has been really, really good for him and the type of person he is. and I think we can maximize his growth here. and I think that he feels that way. and I think every week he’s getting better and better. But you talk about a football player who loves to play the game.”
Q: PJ, how substantial of an impact is it having one last day of prep in a week like this?
Fleck: “Well, for us, we’re at home, so it’s probably a little less than other people, but this is just the world of college football. I mean, the one thing I always tell all of you, at least I’m prepared for this. I mean, when you come from the MAC, played in the MAC, coached in the MAC, you got MAC-tion, Tuesday nights, Wednesday nights, Thursday nights, four-day weeks, eight, nine-day weeks. You’ve seen it all.
And I think that we rely a lot on our past data, but also infuse it with this new technology and data that you have and then you create your week. There is no, this is the only formula. You know, everybody has a different way of traveling out West or out East or two time zones. Everybody’s going to have a different thought process on how to prepare on a five-and-a-half-day week. What’s the health of your football team look like? What’s your experience of your team? All that comes into play of making your decisions.
So even though you have that experience, it’s about the 20-25 team and what they can handle, but you use all that past experience to create your future the best way you possibly can.”
Q: It seems like there’s a lot of mutual respect between you and Matt. Is he one of the coaches you’re closest to in the big time?
Fleck: “Yeah, I mean, we went to the Kenny Chesney concert together this past summer, which was a lot of fun. Coach Mullen, who’s at UNLV, and myself and Coach Rule, we kind of all met up there and I think he’s a fantastic human being. I think he’s a wonderful football coach, but a really good person.
You know, we’re so competitive when you get to the season, but out of season, I think you see everybody for who they are as people and it’s a lot of fun, and you have a lot of shared interests, and you get to cross paths, and our wives are able to get together. Because we live in that same world, and that same bubble, I guess.
But when you peel back the onion, you’re all human beings, and you’re all people and I think he’s a fantastic human being, and a great husband, a great father, and just a, you know, I’ve got to know him and consider him a friend as we go through this together and he’s got a really good football team.
You know, we’re kind of teaming up, him and I. It was really his idea to bring a breast cancer awareness game, you know, and to really kind of go above and beyond. Because I know him and his family have been affected by breast cancer, and I’ve had a lot of people in my life, you know, that we’ve been affected with breast cancer and just like all of you, there’s probably not a person that hasn’t been affected by it somehow, some way.
So we’ve kind of talked about it in the off season about doing something for that particular game, and teaming up, and just encourage, you know, all of our supporters and fans to bring awareness to breast cancer awareness, and do something really special this week for those that have gone through it or have had it, and really keep life in perspective as well.
So, again, when you’re talking about him as a person, that’s what I’m talking about and we could talk about the game. We could talk about our quarterbacks, you know, we talked about that in the off season, leading up, knowing we’re going to play each other, and kind of teamed up on that, which I think says a lot about him, and where his heart is always at. So, got a tremendous challenge. Can’t wait for Friday night. Top 25 team coming into Huntington Bank Stadium, and we’re going to have to play our best football game of the year. That is a fact.”
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