Everything Minnesota Head Coach PJ Fleck said ahead of the Rutgers game
On Monday morning, Minnesota Golden Gophers‘ head coach PJ Fleck met with the local media to provide final thoughts on the program’s bye win over Buffalo and begin looking ahead to their week five matchup against the Rutgers Football.
Full Press Conference Transcript
Q: What are your emotions on Athan’s return on Saturday?
Fleck: “Listen, this is Rutgers and Minnesota, you know? Got a lot of respect for what they do and how they do it. He’s playing really well. I think his fifth year in that type of same system, so you’d expect to see that type of growth that he has shown and has played in and playing at a high level, that’s for sure.”
Q: You talk about having big goals for the season, coming off a loss and a bye week. How did you see your team after that?
Fleck: “Well, our big goal is always to be 1-0. You know, I mean, the big goal is to get the most out of our players academically, athletically, socially, and spiritually, and be 1-0. You know, we weren’t that way in the Cal that Saturday. We were 0-1 in the Cal season. I thought we were 1-0 in the bye week. I thought we used it perfectly, and whether that’s, you know, fundamentals, details, techniques, reflection, self-scout, going back, working Minnesota with Minnesota, I think it was really good for us, because if you look, game one, it was Buffalo, and game two, a lot of our starters played nine, 10 plays, and then we go out to Cal on a massive road trip, enter in a hard-fought game, comes down in the last, you know, seven, eight minutes, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to get that done. So our team’s experienced a lot. You know, game one’s game one, right? Then you had a blowout in one way, then you have a tough game on the road, and you have to handle that defeat, and you have to respond the right way. I mean, in three games, they’ve handled a lot of things that came their way. So you got to put all that together. You apply it in the bye week. You get better in the bye week. I thought our coaches did a really good job of that. Went on the road, did some recruiting, and then got back into this week with Rutgers. So had a practice last night, which is a Tuesday-type practice, from first and second down. I thought our guys had incredible energy. I thought the execution for our game plan being in a short amount of time was at a high level. And, you know, you only get nine promised games left, and they’re all Big Ten games, and they come one after another now. And so, you know, we’re doing everything we possibly can to be 1-0 on Saturday.”
Q: The turnover margin is a part of the 78%, and in your last five FBS games, you’ve got one defensive takeaway. How do you start to get the takeaways on defense against FBS competition?
Fleck: “I got to get the takeaways. I mean, it’s not like you’re not emphasizing it. It’s not like you’re not coaching it. There’s games we’ve done it. There’s games you don’t do it. Other people are coached, too, in that same realm. I think everybody, however they want to say it, we say the ball’s the program, but so does Rutgers. So does Ohio State. I mean, they’re going to say the same things, you know, that the ball is the number one percentage to win. It’s the number one characteristic. It’s the number one deal that’s tied to winning. So look at yesterday in the National Football League. There’s people that turned the ball over four times. If you turn the ball over four times, probably not going to win many games. I mean, it’s a zero-sum game, Ryan. I mean, somebody’s got to win. Somebody’s got to lose, and the ball is a major key to that. So we had our opportunities, and, you know, if you go back and look at Cal, I mean, we could possibly have a pick six and the ball gets tipped, and you want the ball to get tipped, because the ball’s the program. Go tip the ball, but it doesn’t get tipped. We have a pick. Sometimes it happens that way. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes you see the end of the play. Sometimes you don’t. You know, we do punch the ball out, you know, at Cal. The ball’s on the ground. That’s for other people to talk about and officials from a different conference, but, you know, we are getting it out, whether that counts or not. So we’re going to do everything we can to be 1-0, and the ball’s going to be a big piece of that on Saturday.”
Q: You’re very familiar with Rutgers’ coaching staff. Does that make it easier to focus or more streamlined?
Fleck: “I think we’re both just familiar with each other and how each other runs their programs and they run their systems, but, you know, other than that, you take what’s on the film, dissect what’s on the film. You look at the players as players that you’re playing against and their skill sets and their skill levels, and, you know, everybody has challenges right now, but, no, there’s nothing that’s personal when you’re going into a game that you might have some data and information based on schemes and things like that, but, you know, they’re going to game plan the way they’re going to game plan. We’re going to game plan the way we’re going to game plan, and it’s strictly based on the film that’s been done for the 2025 season.”
Q: Which running backs will you be counting on on Saturday?
Fleck: “We’ll have plenty of running backs on Saturday. The injury report will come out two hours before kickoff.”
Q: What did you see in Fame to count on him?
Fleck: “You know, Fame, I think Fame is coming on really strong. Fame is somebody that, before the season started and we were in January, we were talking about who we were really going to count on the tier, what are we going to have to do with the portal, every single position, and every single coach kept coming back to Fame, that, you know, he missed the spring, unfortunately, and I think if he didn’t miss the spring, I think he’d be even further along than he is now, but him getting the game reps that he’s getting right now and him playing the football and the style of football he’s playing is only helping him right now, but he’s got really good contact balance. He’s still a really young player. He’s hungry. He had a phenomenal practice yesterday, as I think all the running backs did, so, but he’s a guy we’re going to count on now and as we continue to count on in the future as we keep moving forward.”
Q: How anxious is Koi to get back out there after the game in Berkeley?
Fleck: “Yeah, I mean, here’s the thing. When you’re a young player and you play as a true freshman and you come on the scene and, you know, he made plenty of mistakes last year, but they’re covered up by a lot of plays. You know, I loved Koi’s response. You know, it’s hard. It’s hard to be that level of a player, have that level of attention, and you’re not going to ever play perfect, and there’s a realistic piece of what you’re going to play and you’re going to make mistakes and you’re going to have to touch the stove and you’re going to have to do some things that are a little outside of your character to really learn and grow. I mean, that’s why we define failing as growth. I mean, he did some things that he shouldn’t do and he did them and he’ll never do them again. And there’s a price to pay to that. And whether you escape it with a victory or you don’t escape it with a victory, one play never loses you a game. We had plenty of opportunities to go win that football game throughout the entire, you know, 60 minutes, but one play can win you a game, and a lot of times those are really smart plays. We just have to be a little bit smarter. I think everybody in that game wanted to go make a play. Everybody, not just Koi, but everybody wanted to go make a play because it was a really tight game and we had survived a big wave and we take the lead 14 to 10 and it was a hostile environment. And some of those guys, that was one of the first times they’d been in that when they played. So there was a lot of learning and growth from that. And sometimes it has to go against you for you to learn the biggest lessons. And I think Koi definitely learned that lesson. He’s mature enough, played a lot of football. He’s a leader of this football. He’s one of the leaders of this football team. He’s a really good football player and it’s not gonna be the last mistake he ever makes, but I do look forward to his response, that’s for sure. And he’s had a great week of practice and another great week of practice. So yeah, I look forward to the response.”
Q: Who was on a short list of players who played well at Cal?
Fleck: “I mean, Dave, we lost as a team. I mean, there were some guys that had really good individual performances, but we look at it as holistic when we don’t win. I mean, we look at why we didn’t, how could we get better? What are the reasons? But I thought some guys had some pretty good individual performances, but overall as a team, Dave, I didn’t think it was good enough from top to bottom. Same with coaching. I mean, it’s like asking me too, which coach do you think coached the best? We all take accountability and responsibility. We all own the loss as players, as coaches. Half the teams win, half the teams lose. National Football League, high school, college, that’s what makes this game very unique. And it’s not about just who played well, who didn’t play well. We lost as a team, we’ll win as a team, and we’ll take accountability as a team either way.”
Q: Catching the ball consistently clean and winning contested catches has been an area that can improve off the bye week. How do you try to reset that pass-catching room heading into Big Ten play?
Fleck: “Yeah, I think there’s perfection and then there’s reality. I think that we strive for perfection and I think there wasn’t any quarterback in NFL or college that was 35 to 35. I don’t think if you go back through NFL and college that maybe somebody didn’t have a drop ball or a ball that was just outside the reach or hit their fingertips. I’m not saying that we had three or four balls I would love to be able to have back. But I don’t think it’s a massive problem because I watch them every day in practice. They’ve just got to transfer that over. And some people are getting their first opportunities to be a guy and play. And you got to know what that’s like. Beginning of the year, I said this at the beginning, I said, we’re going to play some guys on offense that are really, really young. Well, young equals inexperienced. They’re going to do things that maybe at times is really good and shows flashes of what exactly we’re saying, that these guys are really talented players. And then they’re going to do some things you’re like, okay, there’s the youth. And I think for some, that’s kind of what we’ve had over the last, we’ve only played three games and we’ve really had one power four game. And maybe we’ve had a few drops here and there, but I don’t think it’s across the board on things hitting us right in the chest constantly. I think that we’ve got to continue to promote every ball’s an elite ball. Continue to talk about that with our team, continue to teach them, but they’re going to keep elevating their game as we keep going through the season. And this team is going to continue to get better. That’s what I want to see from them. That’s what we expect. But I would love to have three or four balls back. Absolutely. I think every team and every coach in the country would love that when you go back and look at it, because we always look at it, why’d we win and why’d we lose? And even if we win, okay? If we had two or three drop balls or balls that were just outside of a catch radius that wasn’t perfect, you got to look for the realistic piece of that, not necessarily the perfect or ideal. So we’re living in that realistic world. And some of the guys that are out there are a little bit inexperienced and they’re gaining the experience with every practice and every game they play. But the great thing about here is it’s very real. Like, they’ll know that this can cost us and it catches up to you when it catches up to you. And I think those are lessons that we learned on special teams last week in the return game. And hopefully we don’t make those mistakes again.”
Q: Looking at Rutgers’ offense as a whole, what stands out to you?
Fleck: “Very efficient. They’re very efficient. And the way Kirk calls it, very, very efficient. They’ve got two really good receivers. I should say that they got three really good receivers. DT, the kid in the slots, very, very quick, agile, fast, explosive. Works the slot really well. Then they’ve got two guys that are six, four plus on the outside. I mean, they’re taking eight to 10 shots a game. And I think last game they completed half of those and then had two PIs on top of that. So if you count that, it’s almost 70% of a positive play happening when the ball’s going down the field. So we got our work cut out for us. They got us on a bunch of that last year too. But when you got those huge guys on the outside, I mean, that’s gonna help. They’re getting the ball out of Athan’s hands or running the ball efficiently. You can tell, it’s a guy who’s been in the system for five years as a quarterback and he’s playing really efficiently.”
Q: What impressed you about Drake coming back from the loss last week?
Fleck: “Yeah, just his response. I mean, being a redshirt freshman and this is all the learning time that he’s going. When you’re young, you’re gonna learn the biggest lessons. And those are gonna shape your future. So I think what he learned is there’s a difference between leading the offense, leading yourself and leading the entire team. And I think he took a huge step forward in last week’s bye week of leading our entire team. But again, as I said at the beginning of the year and this goes back to Ryan’s question is, it’s not about just Drake Lindsey. I mean, he’s one 11th of that offense. Quarterback’s a big position. It’s how well the supporting cast plays, right? That allows the quarterback to be really good. Supporting cast has to make the quarterback better. Quarterback’s got to make the supporting cast better. And as we continue to play together, hopefully they continue to do that, which I believe they will. But I look forward to them playing in another football game. And we’ve got nine conference games in a row here and I look forward to playing some football here.”
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