Everything that P.J. Fleck said after Minnesota's 24-6 win over No. 25 Nebraska
Minnesota football coach P.J. Fleck met with the Minnesota media on Friday after the Gophers’ 24-6 win over No. 25 Nebraska. Gophers Nation has the full transcript of everything that Fleck had to say on Friday night below.
Fleck:“All right, first and foremost, just got to give Nebraska a lot of credit. I have a lot of respect for Coach Rule and what he does and how he does it. We knew we were going to play a really good Nebraska-ranked team today and we knew they were going to travel really well. I mean, Big Red always travels really well.
But we had to do a lot of the simple things at a very, very high level today and the whole theme of the week was free throws. I know Coach Niko’s going to love that — free throws. Free throws are the simplest part of the game. It’s all about technique, fundamentals. Talked about Steph Curry. I actually read a Steph Curry children’s book last night and — 91 point whatever free throw shooter — greatest in NBA history. But all week it was about the fundamentals and techniques.
You want to get the run game going? It’s about the fundamentals and technique in the run game. It’s not that we’re not executing — we’re just not executing our fundamentals and techniques and there was a mindset going into this week. And I give our coaches a lot of credit. They worked about 24, 25 hours a day this week and fully committed to the process, which they always do.
And you never know the result. I mean, that’s faith. But I’m really, really proud of our staff tonight. Offense, defense, special teams — I think they put our players in the best position to be successful. Our players were relentless. They set the tone from the beginning.
I was talking to Paul afterwards and JG and I said, that’s kind of a game that you look at as a head football coach — there’s a lot of decisions you have to make that you can’t look at them for just the now. You have to look at them two, three quarters down the road.
And it’s really fun though, when you trust your offense, defense and special teams all within the same game, and they’re all playing at a really high level. So every decision you make as a head coach just swings in your percentages because you trust each side and that’s a lot of fun to do.
I can’t thank our crowd enough. I mean, what an atmosphere we created again and we continue to do it. I want to thank Mark Coyle and his administration and everybody for setting the tone for our game day environment. It was really, really special.
So we’re 1-0 against Nebraska. That’s what it means. We were good enough tonight. We have a lot of things I’m sure to talk about. I thought our defense played relentless. Our offense played really, really smart football — tough football, put-your-hand-in-the-ground, put-the-ball-down football.
And that’s what we knew it was going to take. And then I thought our special teams going up those three scores at the very end, I mean, that sealed it. Because you never know — they’re very explosive. They got really good players. Got a lot of respect for Coach Rhule and what he does and the person he is and always have.
So for three hours, you want to beat each other. But other than that, I got a lot of respect for him and his team and the way they do things. So with that, we’ll open it up for questions.”
On the Gophers’ program record nine sacks
FLECK: “Nine sacks — I love that. That’s what I loved about it. I love that. Fundamentals, technique, same thing. You want to get pressure on the quarterback versus Nebraska, you’ve got to contain, you’ve got to shrink the pocket, you’ve got to do all the small things well.
I thought putting Carter Menz in a position tonight really kind of helped us, gave us a — I thought he’s earned it. And him and Jackson rotating, I think it’s not that Jackson didn’t play well — Jackson’s playing at a high level — but Carter’s playing at a high level too.
So it reminded me of kind of the Boye, Thomas Rush alternating back and forth. And that makes us a really good football team if we can have fresh bodies. But I thought Anthony Smith did a tremendous job. Devin Williams flying around, Maverick flying around — everybody.
But it starts top down. And what you don’t notice — you had nine sacks today, but that’s coverage down the field. We didn’t have Nester tonight. We didn’t have a few DBs tonight. And we played a lot of guys, and a lot of guys like JB getting his first quality time and going in and making a huge tackle in the open field.
Zaquan Bryan making some pass breakups. Just total team effort. Total team effort on defense. But when you’re talking about nine sacks, which we’re really proud of — the program record — we’re talking about top down. We’re talking about a whole complete defense doing what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it. Full technique and fundamentals. And that’s what it was going to take tonight.”
On the Gophers’ 98-yard touchdown drive
FLECK: “Let’s go for football right there. Mudita — vicarious joy. Nothing makes me more proud than that drive. It’s just how I’m built.
Ninety-eight yards, minus two-yard line, you’re backed up. First goal of backed up is get out of backed up. It’s exactly what I told them in the huddle. We train for this. It’s all situational football.
First goal of backed up — get out of backed up. Practicing backed up in training camp’s hard. It usually favors the defense. We work at it an awful lot. First goal of backed up — get out of backed up. First goal of coming out — get out of coming out. Just like that 1-0 mentality.
But I thought that was a huge drive for us and we needed everybody. We needed to run, we needed to pass. Our guys made some really good plays. That was a huge drive for us. That was, I think, the biggest drive that we had.”
On the physical play in the trenches
FLECK: “They did. Once you master your fundamentals — or once you truly believe and trust your fundamentals — you can play way faster. Sometimes when you’re playing fast without fundamentals, you’re out of control. You gotta scale that back. You gotta peel back the onion. You gotta go back to work to the basic piece of that.
That’s what we did this week. We knew we were gonna have to run the ball. But saying you wanna run the ball, Chip, and running the ball are two different things. Knowing and doing are very different.
We knew we had to do it, but then we had to train to go do it. And then they were able to go do it. But it took everybody. I thought Femi, when he got in there, he ran incredibly hard. Darius — huge explosive play. Wideouts blocking down the field — that got us moving.
So we knew we were gonna have to run the football. I mean, we knew that. Two games that we technically didn’t, when you look at the wins we had with Rutgers and Purdue — I mean, we’re down 14-0, 10-0. And I’m not into beating my head against the wall over and over and over. You gotta come up with something that’s gonna work quickly.
And that was a screen two weeks ago, or last week. That was a big post play against Rutgers. I mean, to get back in your flow, you’ve gotta be able to throw the football too. And you gotta be able to throw it to run it. You gotta have explosive plays and you gotta run the ball.
Run the ball. Throw it and run the ball. Then you’re gonna have to have explosive plays. And I’m just really proud of everybody up front.
And I thought Drake Lindsey had a phenomenal game. You talk about the run game — I thought he got us in the right run, right run checks. Very, very difficult defense to play against. They play every front. They blitz all the time. Very difficult to get us in the right run.
Multiple times getting us out of the run we had and getting us in a different run. I thought he was tremendous. And when he didn’t, we settled him right down. And he settled right down. And you talk about a competitor — but that was a huge 1-0 win for us.”
On mixing looks and pressures
FLECK:“Well, we’ve done that in a few games, but we’ve lost integrity with the rush lanes and that was a huge, huge emphasis this week. If we’re gonna do all that — we’re gonna move, we’re gonna blitz, we’re gonna create some stuff they haven’t seen — which is fine.
Head coaches, listen, I’m fine with it. But I have one rule: we’re gonna condense that pocket because this guy will absolutely kill you if he gets outside the pocket. Which he was — throwing with his left hand, throwing with his right hand. He’d punt it to somebody, he’d hip it to somebody. I mean, he is a heck of an athlete.
But I thought in the second half for sure, I thought we contained him really well and that was huge for us. That was gonna be really big to our success — how we were able to handle that.”
On fundamental and tackling
FLECK: “You may have missed a tackle, but I don’t remember. I saw some, I saw some. But you gotta give them credit too. I mean, this is a ranked football team. Ranked football team — period.
But this is about the fundamentals and technique. We press the hip better, we wrap and roll better, we bit the ball better, we swept the ankle better. We must have done it. The team looked at me like I was crazy — on what day was that, Tuesday’s practice?
We always start with tackling convention. You guys have been to practice — but we must have done it for 25, 30 minutes. The offense is looking over this before practice starts, so it usually goes about three minutes to give you a little bit of comparison. We went about 20, 25 minutes, and I think they got the point.
To your point, as you’ve asked me before about the tackling — you can emphasize it, but then you gotta go do it. And sometimes, I’m a firm believer in you get what you emphasize, but you gotta overemphasize it at times. And I thought, I mean, I think they got the message.”
On making Nebraska defenders miss
FLECK: “Well, we were gonna have to get the hard yards. That was preached all week — hard yards, hard yards, hard yards.
This is a very good football team. And their only loss was to Michigan, and that was really close. It was a really good team. So, they’re big, they’re strong, they’re long. I mean, look at them.
They’re big, they’re strong, they’re fast, they’re long. They tackle well, they swarm the ball. But I thought we established a line of scrimmage early, and I thought our backs did the rest.
I mean, there’s some punishing hits that I think we delivered and set the tone early. And I think that propelled us into the fourth quarter. I think we had the ball for 18 minutes in the second half. That’s Gopher football right there — where we’re at our best.”
On Kenny Chesney being the theme of the week
FLECK:“Yeah, it’s Kenny Housney this week. Kenny Chesney, for all you non-country music fans. That’s who we studied this week.
And I think he got a few more fans, you know, maybe going to his concerts here coming up. But Garrett Chernoff is the greatest GM in the country. Not only is he a really, really special friend to me — he got a 35 on the ACT. He didn’t even have to retake it, didn’t want to retake it.
He’s a Big Ten guy, but he’s really, really creative. And we come up with a lot of things together. But he deserves a lot of the credit because he knows me. He knows how my brain works.
And as Heather says, like, I just wouldn’t want to live in your brain. I think that’s a compliment from your wife — kind of. But I know what she means when she says that because it just goes a mile a minute. Garrett’s does too.
I just got an 18 on the ACT, and he got a 35 on the ACT. So, and I took it three times and couldn’t change the score. But he is exceptional at what he does. And I couldn’t do my job without him.
He makes our program better every single day, and he doesn’t get enough credit. You know, I mean, head coaches get a lot of credit when you win, and it has nothing to do with me. It has to do with them, our players, our staff. But Garrett’s the absolute best. And just couldn’t do it without him.”
On the field storming and savoring the moment
FLECK: “Well, I sat in a small little office room with Heather and waited for everybody to get in and just took a big, deep breath. You’re so in the moment, right? And then afterwards, you’re really elated for your players. It’s a player’s game.
I even told them before we took the field, I said, we’re playing a ranked opponent, guys. I don’t know what to really tell you. You know, I went in there and said, free throws. Fundamentals and techniques. Let’s go be us. Like, that’s it. And they were.
But I think that as we keep going through this, I mean, you can see it throughout the country — our team doesn’t let the circumstance dictate their behavior. We always say, a man distracted is a man defeated, and they’re not distracted. They stay really, really focused.
And, you know, so, I mean, I’m sure we’ll celebrate. I don’t know. I don’t even know what time it is. But we’ll celebrate together at the house for a little bit, and we’ll move on to tomorrow.
I mean, we’ve got a rivalry week next week, so we’ll get to work. We’ve got to get healthy. We’ve got to get healthy because we’re going to play a really physical Iowa team at Iowa, and we know how difficult it is to play there.
But it’s a huge win for our program, but it is 1-0, and that’s where we keep our mindset. And this team stays really focused.
And the crowd storming is awesome. It’s so fun to watch the student population. I’m glad we don’t have a rule. Maybe we do. No? Good. I’m glad we don’t have a rule because I’m just an advocate. I love it.
I love watching our student body, who cheers the entire game, who makes a difference in the game, go down and create a moment in memory that will last in their brain and their hearts forever. I love that. Like, there’s nothing better than that.
Heather and I just kind of run to the tunnel, and then we look back. And it was kind of fun, though — I will tell you this — as Heather saw Koi. Koi was one of the first ones off. And Koi’s out there storming the field, but isn’t that the expectation?
That’s my guy. That’s why he came here. And it was a heck of a statement from him because that’s what it’s about. But I love that. I don’t want them to stop doing that. Ranked wins are important. Ranked wins deserve that. I love that.
But that’s what it’s all about. Our job is to create moments and memories and raise young people to be incredible men, husbands, fathers — but create moments and memories along the way. That is what RJ… You get lost in all this other stuff. It gets lost in all this stuff we want to talk about these days. That’s what our job is.
We get paid to win. I get that. But we do the job because we love to teach and coach and develop. And that’s what it’s all about.
Our student body the same way, Andy. I love that. They all have a moment and memory. We seem to be doing that every year, which is great.
But it’s pretty cool. Think about if you’ve been here four years — how many times you’ve been on that field? And huge wins.
Again, that’s credit to Mark Coyle and his vision. We’re not arriving anywhere — 1-0 — but, boy, I don’t take those things for granted. I’ve been a head coach, been 1-11 before.
That’s why we celebrate the way we celebrate. Some people don’t know we celebrate that way every game. Like, it’s like, oh, you’re out, sir. We do that every game because I’ve been 0-9. That’s a long year.
You never take winning for granted. And I’m so grateful and thankful that it happened to me — people who have been with me in year one — because I’ve never taken, never have taken winning for granted, ever. And I never want our players to take that for granted.
Those moments and memories, I never want them to ever be like, ‘Oh, yeah, you were supposed to do that.’ I want them to always have that.”
On Nathan Roy’s performance
FLECK: “One thing I see from him that you don’t often see from the young offensive linemen is making that block at the next level. It’s really… He’s so athletic. Remember, this kid runs 21 and a half miles an hour. That’s pretty fast.
Pierre, can you run 21 and a half miles an hour? Yeah. Yeah, I bet you could. I bet you could.
But he’s so athletic. He can bend. He can run. He’s physical. He’s violent. He’s smart. He just loves ball. Nathan Roy loves ball.
And if you can get as many guys on your football team that love ball, coaching is way more fun. And the development process is way faster.
And I think that’s what you see in Nathan Lloyd. I mean, his family’s awesome, too. They’re no-nonsense. Just, ‘Let’s go out there and play some football.’ The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. They’re a very competitive family — that’s for sure. Maybe one of the most competitive families I’ve been around. And you can tell by the way Nathan Roy plays.”
Closing Statement
FLECK: “So, listen, thank you to everybody. And, you know, again, we’re rowing the boat with anybody who’s battling breast cancer. Appreciate Nebraska and our administration teaming up and saying it’s okay to do breast cancer awareness today.
And we’ve all been affected by it. And I’m just so grateful that we can celebrate as a team. But we also have very humble hearts and are very grateful for what we have.
And every single person out here has been affected by breast cancer somehow, some way. So whatever you can do to bring awareness to breast cancer — continue to donate, make a difference, make a change — because that’s what ‘Row the Boat’ is all about.
Remember, Row the Boat is simple. It’s still about serving and giving. And our players did that tonight. And so hopefully we gave a lot of people hope who are really battling through some tough times right now. And that’s what tonight was for — it was for you.”
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