Post Game Press Conference Video: “It’s all on me” says PJ Fleck after a disappointing loss to Illinois

[GophersInIowa]

It’s always going to be a mix of execution, talent and coaching. This is on the players and the coaches pretty equally IMO.

I’m generally going to be more critical of the coaches decisions because there really is no excuse for their mistakes. They’re not having to make split second decisions during a play.

3rd and 9 run play towards the end of half. Slow developing shotgun run on 3rd and short. Going predictable and conservative on offense in the 2nd. Playing soft zone on defense. These are all conscious decisions the coaches make.

The players need to execute better, for sure. But the coaches don’t put them in the best situations to execute too.

 

[GopherGod]

Fleck is going to bail for another program. I would bet money on. It. He has reached ceiling on what Minnesota can be under this coaching staff.

No one wants him unless he wants to go to a lower status conference like the remaining pac 12 or something

 

[MZBKA1]

"It's completely on me and I take complete responsibility...now can we end this press conference? I have $400,000 paycheck to cash for coaching this game"

"Responsibility" without consequences or change is completely vacuous. Fleck can't recruit, and we've seen many times, he can't really manage a game either. He's not worth $6 million per year.

 

[Buck_Buchanan]

Fleck is going to bail for another program. I would bet money on. It. He has reached ceiling on what Minnesota can be under this coaching staff.

I’m interested in knowing which programs you feel would even invest in him and how much money you think he’s worth in signing. He seriously has 2 inexcusable losses this year and no amount of spin / nomenclature will change that fact. Bottom line is he had the West “Gift Wrapped” to him by Indiana earlier in the day AND he HAD to find a way to make it more messy.

 

[PMWinSTP]

Coach Speak.... Also partially true.... I say "partially" because I feel it is more on Rossi and the defense. Keep the offensive player in front of you because a FG cant beat you. Twice now.... Everything was setup and they pissed down their leg again !!

They should not have been in the position where it mattered on that play. That's what's frustrating for me.

 

[MZBKA1]

Fleck is going to bail for another program. I would bet money on. It. He has reached ceiling on what Minnesota can be under this coaching staff.

Who would want to hire Fleck right now? What does he bring to the table?

A record of bottom-level recruiting? An inability to win must-win games? A promise that his team will be the losing team in a major upset every single year?

 

[denguegopher]

He says the same thing after every loss. It’s nauseating.

IMHO after a loss like this one there is NOTHING that a coach can say that will satisfy a frustrated fan base. Most anything that he says will sound defensive, hollow and/or stupid. Its a no win situation.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

IMHO after a loss like this one there is NOTHING that a coach can say that will satisfy a frustrated fan base. Most anything that he says will sound defensive, hollow and/or stupid. Its a no win situation.

Correct. After an awful coaching performance, there are no magic words he can say in the press conference that will make the fan base disregard what a bad job he did during the game.

 

[Tech Machine]

If it truly is on the Coach, there should be a staff turnover at seasons end. 2 was benched after another fumble. It is rather easy to punish or remove substandard play, in regards to players. This season has had numerous questionable coaching decisions chronicled all over these pages and today was the worst, and it seems to be deteriorating as the season goes on. Who wouldn’t bring pressure to a cold quarterback on 4th and 11. Maybe the Vikings DC last year…..I think he got retired.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

For where? What school that can pay him an equivalent salary would want him?

MSU Spartans.

 

[fair]

It's a horrible play call. Rossi couldn't have made it any easier. Just begging to let a guy find an open spot in the zone.....and guess what happened. Every one of those receivers should have had a defender shadowing them to AT LEAST contest the pass. Illinois receiver just sat there wide open. 100% pathetic play call in that situation.

Especially after getting to the quarterback all 4 plays that drive. Prevent defense when you’re up by a score is inexcusable, ESPECIALLY when it’s 4th and long, inside the offense’s 20, with a backup quarterback.

Bielema sent pressure on every single play of the last Minnesota drive, and Athan didn’t know what to do with himself. That’s all Rossi had to do on that 4th down.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

IMHO after a loss like this one there is NOTHING that a coach can say that will satisfy a frustrated fan base. Most anything that he says will sound defensive, hollow and/or stupid. Its a no win situation.

Agreed. But he says the same thing after every loss. That can’t be the best approach.

 

[stocker08]

Especially after getting to the quarterback all 4 plays that drive. Prevent defense when you’re up by a score is inexcusable, ESPECIALLY when it’s 4th and long, inside the offense’s 20, with a backup quarterback.

Bielema sent pressure on every single play of the last Minnesota drive, and Athan didn’t know what to do with himself. That’s all Rossi had to do on that 4th down.

Yup. Hyper conservative play calling once again bites us. Inexcusably bad.

 

[scools12]

To say "It's on me" over and over again is disingenuous when you never say what specifically YOU should have done differently. He says "It's on me," and then goes on to name all of the players' mistakes.

The players did make mistakes.

QB needed to make a throw and didn’t get it done.

DB can’t get beat deep and ended up getting beat deep.

It is on Fleck but the coaches can only put the players in position to make a play. When given the chance to close out the game the players didn’t make the plays needed to get it done.

 

[USAF]

Maybe ACTUALLY take responsibility.

"It's on me. I got all chickenshit after we tied it 14-14. Played not to lose, rather than played to win. I'm pretty good at that. But I've learned my lesson. Next time i take a knee and it's not to end the game, I'll resign. We're going to score on every possession, or lose trying."

 

[DanvilleGopher]

I like coaches taking responsibility for losses. But not every loss is on him. And to say it over and over and make no changes is even more mind boggling.

Agree 100%. If you are saying this over and over again after losses, yet the same nauseating play calling on both sides of the ball are taking place, what he's saying is only coach speak and nothing more. If he meant it, there would be drastic changes taking place, plain and simple.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Good coach always says that.

But like many times this season, players didn't make plays...

The plays to win were there time and again.

 

[cncmin]

I like coaches taking responsibility for losses. But not every loss is on him. And to say it over and over and make no changes is even more mind boggling.

see that’s the thing. The same f’ing things hurt this team every game and there are never any adjustments. Always go back to the same strategy that failed before to ensure an easywin becomes a nail biter or …worse, like BgSU, NW, Illinois 2022 AND2023.

 

[cncmin]

The 4th and 11 defensive play call was absolute horseshit. I honestly don't understand how Rossi calls what looked to be a zone prevent. Safeties deep and corners playing inside. There's absolutely no excuse for a receiver to have an uncontested catch like that. Zero. That was a terrible play call and Rossi should be embarrassed.

i will never stop being angry about that horseshit D call for as long as I live. Grade school idiocy…whoever made that call should own up to one of THEdumbest defensive play calls in the history of college football.

 

[Roland Brooks]

I see PJ has some issues.

That said, I don't think he is the reason this is happening.

AK is not good.

Nubin is playing for the INT and it has cost us 2 games ( NW and this one)

#4 has dropped 20 passes.

I actually think the players have sucked this year. Yes, the coaches need to develop them but the players have been the mistakes not the play calls.

You mean all the guys recruited ?

 

[Section209]

Maybe ACTUALLY take reaponsibility.

"It's on me. I got all chickenshit after we tied it 14-14. Played not to lose, rather than played to win. I'm pretty good at that. But I've learned my lesson. Next time i take a knee and it's not to end the game, I'll resign. We're going to score on every possession, or lose trying."

From your lips to God’s ears…. Please, Oh please… could we ever be lucky enough to see it? I wouldn’t even need to hear him say it as long as he did it.

 

[Allshade]

Gary Danielson just said something prescient regarding the LSU - Bama game; Brian Kelly sensing it’s going to be a high scoring game, decided to go for it on 4 and short because it’s going to be a shootout.

PJ has zero feel for the game, it it’s not going to be an Iowa game, don’t take the air out of the . You can’t expect your D to be elite every game.

Amazing this is such a blind spot, until he figures this out, his best won’t improve.

Everyone knows Illinois has a below average run defense. We should've run the ball down their throats. Instead we throw passes to guys who have defenders draped over them.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Everyone knows Illinois has a below average run defense. We should've run the ball down their throats. Instead we throw passes to guys who have defenders draped over them.

True, but our offense was more efficient/effective in the first half when we were able to pass the ball successfully.

Additionally, our D wasn’t as sharp as it was the last couple weeks.

Agree to disagree.

 

[Roland Brooks]

D was sharp against Deacon Hill

 

[Sparlimb]

He's not wrong.

He thinks he's being the man by taking responsibility, but he's really not. We're a much worse team than 4 years ago and he still has no idea how to play to win. He refuses to do it. This season is lost. We should spend the rest of it passing 100% of the time because every player on offense needs to learn how it works. PJ should hand play calling duties to his wife and go have a beer with Scott Frost.

 

[Some guy]

Hill I will die on:

If you have third (or fourth) and 1 or less and you run the ball out of the shotgun… fired on the spot, straight to jail

You want 60-70% of college coaches fired

 

[PMWinSTP]

Agreed. But he says the same thing after every loss. That can’t be the best approach.

Needs to change his best on multiple areas.

 

[Gopherchase]

i will never stop being angry about that horseshit D call for as long as I live. Grade school idiocy…whoever made that call should own up to one of THEdumbest defensive play calls in the history of college football.

RossI was bad in the first half and then choked down the stretch.

 

[#2Gopher]

Still can't believe we played a soft secondary on the last possession. Absolutely no excuse not to shut down a rookie QB.

 

[EG#9]

The 4th and 11 defensive play call was absolute horseshit. I honestly don't understand how Rossi calls what looked to be a zone prevent. Safeties deep and corners playing inside. There's absolutely no excuse for a receiver to have an uncontested catch like that. Zero. That was a terrible play call and Rossi should be embarrassed.

I would have to go back and look, but I believe the playcall that resulted in the Walley interception to seal the Iowa game was similar. They were in a 3rd and long (somewhere between 15-20) and we dropped waaay back. Watching the replay, Walley closed on the ball but both receivers on that side of the field were past the sticks with defenders not tightly contesting them...without a good break on the ball it could have been an easy completion.

Rossi defenses have been pretty consistently horrible in late game situations. Last year we couldn't get a Purdue RB on the ground and gave up like their longest rush of the season when we just needed the ball back. We also gave up the play to the TE to put Iowa in fg range immediately after Athan's pick last season. Wisconsin had to put in a cold QB last season in a similar situation to Illinois this year (they were already much further down the field) and we probably give up that score too if they didn't have 3 consecutive false starts or whatever once getting inside the 10.

Look how bad we looked with Athan at QB and 50 seconds left going for a game winning fg drive. Imagine if we had to put in Cole Kramer there? Or imagine if we had to play full games with a desperation Spring addition at QB like Deacon Hill? Would we really look better than Iowa? PJ's right that it's "all on him", but it's like that saying of the defnition of insanity being doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? What's changing? We are absolutely inept in all the same ways we've been inept for the last 4 seasons.