P.J. Fleck: Gophers must play better or ‘lot of teams are going to beat us’

Johnnyboy18

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With the film reviewed and his game ball stowed away, Gophers coach P.J. Fleck issued a warning after the 17-7 win over Buffalo.

“It wasn’t that we were really disappointed, but it was we all know we did not even come close to playing our best football,” Fleck said Monday. “When you can not play your best football and win a game like that, OK. Not that you get away with it, but you are almost say, ‘OK, if we continue to do that, a lot of teams are going to beat us.’ ”

The Gophers (1-0) implemented a vanilla offensive scheme to lighten the load for its inexperienced quarterbacks and a reconfigured offensive line playing together for the first time.

Their thin defensive secondary weathered a predominately aerial attack, and the special teams overcame two startling missed field goals to seal an opener that was in doubt throughout Thursday night.

http://www.twincities.com/2017/09/0...-better-or-lot-of-teams-are-going-to-beat-us/
 

On the O-Line:

Against Buffalo, “I didn’t think we moved anybody,” Fleck said. “But again, then when you start looking at a team, it’s the camaraderie and the cohesiveness of working together of those five. It’s not just individual talent of every single player up front. It’s how those players work together, that’s what makes an elite offensive line.

“On Thursday, I thought we played as five different lineman instead of one offensive line, which takes time, which goes back to the ‘E’ word — experience,” Fleck added.
 

SECONDARY IS PRIMARY

About 65 percent of Buffalo’s offensive plays were passes, with quarterback Tyree Jackson completing 22 of 42 for 211 yards, with a touchdown and interception.

“People are going to attack our secondary,” Fleck predicted.

Buffalo had 66 passing yards on two big plays during their touchdown drive in the first quarter, and the Bulls totaled only 66 passing yards in the second half.

“I thought we did a really good job of holding them to a low yardage in the second half in making adjustments,” Fleck said.

SANTOSO STRONG

While placekicker Emmit Carpenter missed two field goals before making the game-sealing 43-yarder with 2:05 remaining, punter Ryan Santoso had a strong evening. He averaged 44.7 yards, which was above last year’s mark of 40.9, and he had three of six punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

“I thought we did a really nice job of executing punting, punt coverage,” Fleck noted.
 


I'm not worried yet. I remember in the past I would wonder how in the heck are we are going to win Big 10 games and we do. Problem being is that I want to win more Big Ten games. I'm not satisfied. I may have to give Fleck a mulligan this year due to the many injured players he inherited though. We'll see how it plays out.
 





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