PJ Fleck: "Lanning doesn't get enough credit of how he connects that football team."

On Monday Minnesota head coach PJ Fleck spoke with media bout his upcoming game vs the Ducks on Friday. Oregon is a heavy favorite headed into the contest.

The Golden Gophers are 0-3 on the road so far this season. They are hoping to change that this weekend.

It’s clear Fleck has a ton of respect for this Oregon team. Here are his top comments about this team, Dante Moore and the defensive line.

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On Adjusting Travel Schedule:

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not just about, okay, well, we lost to Cal, so we’ve got to change everything, right? I mean, it’s a zero-sum game. You win, you lose. You’re going to do what’s best for your football team. You’re going to look at all the data. You’re going to dissect that. And I think Gary Chernoff and his staff have done a really good job putting a plan together, and it’s very, very similar. There are a few tweaks here and there, but it’s not a reactionary tweak. It’s just based on schedule, time, place, all those things, to give ourselves the best chance to be ready to go.

Coming off a bye week, the preparation, preparation this week during our practice schedules, how we’re practicing this week is different than what we did against Cal. So giving ourselves the best chance to go out and play our best football of the year.”

On Adjusting Road Game Preparation:

“1-0. We’re just looking to be 1-O. Home, away, I mean, it’s not about that. It’s about playing your best football. We play some really good football at home. On the road, I mean, play some really good teams on the road as well. So we just got to find a way to be a little bit better each week and be a little more attention to detail in the things that we do, especially in our preparation to go out there and play our best game of the year.

And that’s the focus, whether it’s here, whether it’s in Eugene, Oregon. You got to find a way in November to play your best football.”

On Bye Week Accomplishments:

“One, we wanted to find a way as best we possibly can to get our guys healthy, mentally, physically, and emotionally. I mean, this is not just the physical piece when you get to November. It’s the mental piece. It’s the emotional piece. There’s a lot of demand on student athletes from a lot of different areas. So I thought we were able to accomplish that.

Two, it was kind of a process audit, to your question, Ryan, just looking at what we do and how we do it, like we do every bi-week, but really diving into that and giving it the audit that it deserves.

And then three, just respond and have a really good week of practice. And I thought our guys did a tremendous job of that. Got a lot of the young guys reps. We got after it last week with a lot of the young guys. They got a ton of reps to gain more experience. And then I thought our veterans did a really nice job of the time that we scheduled in for practice.

And then this week, again, a little bit different of a schedule than a normal week, but it’s been really good for our players. And I thought yesterday’s practice was outstanding.”

On Oregon’s Defense:

“When you play a team like Oregon, one, they have incredible talent. I think Dan Lanning’s done a tremendous job of accumulating elite talent. I think that’s well documented. But I think that when you talk about having talent alone doesn’t really get you anything. There’s a lot of teams that are really, really talented. We talk about the difference between skill and talent.

Skill is what you’re born with, blessed with, and the length and the size and the speed and all those things. That’s great. But then you have to develop that talent. Then you’ve got to connect that talent. And I think Dan Lanning doesn’t get enough credit of how he connects that football team, how invested they are, how good they are, how well they play collectively together, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

We know he’s a really good defensive mind. He’s a great person. He’s a great coach. But when you’re talking about the defensive side of the ball. We know he’s a really good defensive mind. He’s a great person. He’s a great coach. But when you’re talking about the defensive side of the ball, they have incredible talent over there.

But it’s one thing to have it. Another thing to connect it, have them all play together, have them all understand how the top affects the bottom, the bottom affects the top. And they’re really, really talented. I mean, you talk about Ohio State’s front seven. I mean, this front seven is just as good, if not better.
And when you look at them and you look at, you know, what the game looked like with Iowa, I think everybody understood, you know, what kind of matchup that was going to be. And it was exactly what everybody thought it was going to be. And, you know, we played some really good defenses. But it makes you, like, do a lot of the really, really small things really, really well.”

On Dante Moore:

“What does he not have that presents tons of challenges? I mean, he’s one of the most dynamic players in all of college football. I think that’s pretty easy to tell, well documented. He’s very, very poised. I mean, you saw that on the last drive against Iowa. I think you saw a lot of Big Ten quarterbacks handle the pressure of the situation tremendously, whether their team won or lost. I think you saw that this past weekend in the Big Ten. Quarterbacks really stepping up.

Again, whether they won or lost, I mean, even looking at the quarterback from Iowa, the way he stepped in and stepped up and got that last touchdown, and then Dante Moore comes down and leads his team down to what they needed to do to win the game with the field goal. I mean, but he’s truly incredibly poised. You could tell that the team really responds well to him. As you could tell, he’s the leader of the offense. No situation too big for him, whether it’s with his legs or his arm. He’s just dynamic. He really is.

Really, really accurate passer, but understands pocket awareness. Moves really well in the pocket.
Good arm angles. Very accurate passer. I mean, he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the country for a reason. So we’ve got to play incredibly sound defense. We’ve got to be able to shrink that pocket. We’ve got to stick to our men and really make sure we don’t create a lot of space on the back end because he’ll find it.

And they’ve got people who can run on the outside and create space and separation and that helps them out as well, as well as a really strong offensive line and tight ends and really, really good run game. So besides that, I don’t know what issues you’re talking about, Randy.

On Oregon’s Injuries at Receiver:

“I don’t know if it matters, Andy, to be honest. Like when you look at their roster and you look at the top six wideouts, they’re all phenomenal. So whether they’re missing one or two of them, I mean, the other guys this past week stepped in, stepped up. It didn’t matter the conditions. They do a really good job of attacking the ball, catching the ball out in front.

Really strong pass catchers, creating space, understanding when to be body catchers and when to be able to go up and get it with your hands. I mean, they’re really talented. They create separation better than anybody. Maybe as good as the guys from Ohio State, being able to create separation. Now, I think the two guys at Ohio State are phenomenal. I mean, that was easy to tell against us, but they’re probably looking at our film going, OK, we’re going to be able to create some stuff. But we got to play our best football on defense, that’s for sure. And it all starts up front. And then our guys on the back end doing their job. So it’s a great, great challenge for us, that’s for sure.”