Transcript from today’s press conference following the win over Rutgers and ahead of the big game at Ohio State:
Coach PJ Fleck
Good morning, everybody. Thanks for being here. I just want to start the press conference by saying happy birthday to my lovely wife, Heather. Tomorrow, September 30, she’s 35 again, so happy birthday to her, hopefully she enjoys her day and we’ll be game planning. So I’m sure she has a great day planned for herself. Happy birthday to her. Thanks for all being here and happy to get the victory last week be one and oh. Knowing the Rutgers season, that was a whole mission. Tremendous job all week coming off that bye week, bye, Minnesota versus Minnesota, and then obviously got into Rutgers as we got into the weekend, and then the following week. But, you know, I thought anybody could win that game. It was back and forth. Loved that our players responded. They showed a lot of courage, which was the word of the week, and I thought they did a tremendous job displaying that for our fans and for each other. So that was pretty evident in how the game went. But glad to get that victory, and we’re on to Ohio State.
It was the biggest home comeback in 30+ years. What did you see in the details that went into it?
Well, I think that, you know, when we talk about this courage piece, we’ll get to that – the details after that, the courage piece and thoughts and ideas and actions without knowing the outcome, right – and you’re down 14, nothing. I thought our coaches did a really good job of shifting and not just shifting completely and throwing out your old game plan, but you game plan 60-70 hours a week to come up with what you think is going to be the right formula to go win a football game. And then, kind of looking at it, you’re like, all right, this might have turned into something a little bit different. When I talk about being a balanced offense. Balance isn’t 50/50, run pass. You’ve heard me say that constantly, I don’t believe in that. I believe in: can you do what it takes to win that football game, whether through the air or on the ground, special teams. Or, you balance it up to get the job done, even if what you do going into that game doesn’t necessarily work as well. Can you shift? I thought our coaches did a tremendous job of that. I thought our players did a tremendous job of that. Down 14-nothing. And we’re, you know, we’re in the minus 18/19 yard line. I mean, you know, those guys could have folded their tents and went home. I mean, that’s tough being down at home like that. I thought the explosive play got us going, you know, sitting in quarters and putting a lot of people down in that box. I thought Jalen made a nice… had a heck of a route. I think that’s a tremendous throw and a great play call. It’s aggressive, because you go three and out there and you punt right, now it could be 21-nothing. And that’s a different story. With the largest, you know, home, come back in 30 years. I mean, I’m only responsible for eight and a half of them, so that’s all I kind of worry about. I don’t worry about the rest of it, but I think it does show how hard it is in modern college football to come back from deficits. And that’s why, when we’re down 14, I’m sure, if you look at when we’ve been here, we’re not probably very good coming back. But this shows the courage of this football team, the fight of the football team, all the reasons I told you back in January and then April and May and June and July, how much I love this football team. I told you, I don’t know what the record will be, but I do love coaching them, because they’re resilient. They respond. And those are the whole three things. We had to have incredible how, our effort had to be relentless, and it was. They had to respond to everything, there was going to be some ebb and flows of that game that were within our control and without our control and you have to respond to it. They did, and then we had to take care of the ball, and we did. And then we had to get the ball taken away, and we did. So when you look at that, kind of as a triumph, they did all three things, they had the courage to believe in it and go execute it. I mean, I said this in the post game press conference. 30 more minutes of that football game, it continues to go back. Continues to go back and forth. So we found a way to make one more play than they did, and I know they got a field goal blocked and missed a field goal. We missed the field goal. There’s a lot of things that both teams look at, at the end and say, hey, listen, we could have played better. There were some things that we did that were sloppy. We got to iron out a lot of our details and fundamentals, and have a heck of an opponent coming up this week.
How do you prepare for an environment like Ohio stadium?
Yeah, I know that the fans have been asking for a night game for three years, right? And they got it, and it’s against the Gophers. We’re gonna do everything we can to simulate it. I don’t think you can ever do that exactly because that place is 107,000 fans, and it’s deafening, and if you that’s for a noon kickoff or an 11am kickoff, let alone all them doing what they do, tailgating all day, and be ready for the night game that the fans have asked for. So we know we’re walking into a really hostile environment. We’re gonna do everything we can to recreate it and prepare in it, but our players are just gonna have to have incredible poise and execute the small details and find a way just to continue to get better and go execute the game plan that’s in front of us. We know what kind of environment we’re walking into, and what type of team we’re going to play. It’s the defending national champions. You listen to Ryan’s press conference, and I have a ton of respect for Coach [Ryan] Day, and we have ton. He’s an incredible man, first of all, and then just a fabulous coach. But, you know, I know he has a lot of confidence in this football team that he’s coaching. I think statistically, when you look at them under Ryan day, this statistically, in the first four games, could be his best team he’s ever coached, you know? And so this is, there’s a really good football team, so we’re going to have to have to play our best football game of the year. We know that, but that’s what’s so fun about it, and what a great opportunity is for us and a great challenge at the same time for our football team.
How will the offense adjust to crowd noise at Ohio Stadium?
Well, that’s going to be the challenge, right? I mean, we do a lot of things in our offense with double, triple call, a lot of different things, right? So we’re going to have to work really hard in how we’re going to get that all communicated. We have a plan for it. We just have to execute it. The moment – It can’t be bigger than the fundamentals and details of your execution. And so this is the pressure of the situation. And we’re going to Ohio Stadium, which I have a ton of respect for what environment they create. Again, when you work there, you appreciate it even more. And they’re very passionate about their football, and it’s going to be a great challenge for us, but again, to our players, a great opportunity, and we’ll be excited for it and ready for it. And you know, we’re going to give everything we got that’s for sure.
Ohio State just held Washington to six points. What makes the defense so good?
They’re opponents to five points. So Washington did a good job scoring one more point than what they’re averaging. That’s above average performance. They’re really, really good at understanding how it all works. You can see how the front seven understand how the back end works. The back end understands how the front seven works. They work cohesively together. They’re relentless. I mean, those four guys up front, they get into some double eagle packages, and they are straight up the field. I mean, Coach Johnson coaching that D line. I mean, they’re coming after the quarterback, and if the run happens to get in the way, they’ll tackle the run. They’re coming after him, and they’re relentless in their pursuit. They’re really good tacklers. They’re smart. Coach Patricia does a really good job of always keeping you guessing, something different almost every single play. It has that little bit that, it has a lot of that NFL feel to it. Every time you’re at the line of scrimmage, it’s a different front, it’s a different coverage. It’s very challenging. They don’t allow you to ever get into a rhythm, because you’re getting something different constantly. And they’re really good at it. A lot of people are afraid to do that, because that’s hard, to be good at a lot of different things, but they have such good players, really good coaches, they can do that, and they’re very good at it. So that was a one possession game going into the fourth quarter, and then, you know, Ohio State makes some plays, but we have to be us. We have to build the game plan according to who we are, and put ourselves in a position to execute at a very, very high level. And if we don’t do that, it’s going to be a long day. So we have to do what we do, and we’ve got to have a great week of practice, we have to have incredible attention to detail and find a way to be able to play one of our best games we played this year. That’s for sure.
On how his offense has evolved over his tenure at Minnesota
“You know, I think it goes back to your philosophical beliefs as a coach, one, and then two, how do you adapt to the personnel that you have with your scheme? You know I love to run the football. We gotta run the ball. We want to run the ball. I still think we’re a run the ball team. I also think we’re a pass the ball team. I also think we’re a run to pass team. You got to be able to pass to run. I mean, you have to be able to do those things. And I think that’s where the balance comes in. So we’ve also played two games without our best players, some of our best players. And I think that’s challenging when you don’t have the depth of, there’s not five Darius Taylor’s on your team. And I think that there’s one Darius Taylor. Darius Taylor goes down. I think that does impact your offense. I’m really proud of our guys that have stepped in and given us everything they have and [are] getting better every single week. I’m really proud of them for that. Believe in those guys. But when you look at it, there’s a reason that Darius Taylor is Darius Taylor. There’s a reason Max Brosmer was Max Brosmer. The reason why Rashod Bateman was Rashod Bateman. They’re very talented, and when they’re not on the field, I think that that does change your mindset of how you have to go win a football game. But that doesn’t mean we don’t believe in everybody else. We do. We just have to get to it maybe a little bit differently. We wanted to run the ball a little bit more in the first half against Rutgers, but we didn’t, we didn’t get enough first downs to get into that rhythm. And that was the game plan. Was to come out and throw the football and get it into the run game, but then really run the ball a lot, and that changed pretty quickly. So, I still believe we have core beliefs. You have to do all four of those things, as I mentioned, really, really well, but I’m always a firm believer that the run sets up the pass. I’ve always believed that as an offensive coach, I think here at Minnesota, you gotta be good at it.
What do you need to do to improve the run game?
I think just consistency. You know, staying on our blocks a little bit longer. We got to be able to break some tackles. We’ve gone down by tripping over an ankle… it’s unfortunate when you kind of go back and… those iPads are amazing, they’re tremendous, but they’re also frustrating as hell at times when you’re looking at that, you’re like, “I’d rather see this on Sunday.” I’d not rather see us trip over an ankle and think that was going to come out. I’d rather see that on Sunday than see that on Saturday during the game. Because those are things that you see on Sunday. You’re like, oh my gosh, I can’t believe that actually happened, but you’re in a completely different head space. But I think it’s just consistency, and that doesn’t happen if we’re a little tighter to the shelf. And those are the small details that, again, go a long way. If we can clean up the details, some fundamentals of the run game, I think we can have more success in it. But guys are playing their tail ends off. I mean, that’s definitely not the… I don’t know if there’s necessarily an issue. We need to get a chance to really kind of get into it and establish it. But I think overall, in the run game, everybody can do something a little bit better. We can either finish a block, we either finish a run a little bit better. I thought [Fame Ijeboi] finished a lot of runs where he broke a bunch of tackles and really fought and scratched, clawed for every single yard when there’s 10 guys down in the box, and they did a tremendous job with that. But there’s also things like staying tighter to the shelf and not allowing yourself to drift. You won’t see that shin of the tight end if, if you’re staying tighter to that shelf. So it’s just the small little things that we talked about with our football team, that we have to a lot better.”
How do you improve the production on third and fourth down?
No, we just have to be better, Dave, like the two for seven and some of that, that’s, that’s, that’s looked at a little bit different. When you’re getting two of those. You can’t even count those. I don’t really look at the statistics. Either get it or you don’t. The statistics aren’t going to change our mindset. Our mindset is we should be able to get a third and one, and fourth and one. It will change like what we do and how we do it, but the mindset of you gotta be able to get third and one, fourth and one to win football games. And I’m not going to be discouraged by not getting some. We’ve gotten some as well, but I’m not going to be discouraged and change my thought process of going for it. When it calls to go for it, we just have to execute it better.
What challenge does Jeremiah Smith bring for your team
I don’t know if that’s the question. I think it’s what doesn’t he [challenge us with] because he is, he’s fabulous. He’s a phenomenal football player. He can stretch the field vertically. He can work in the screen game. He can work underneath. He’s got incredible control of his body in the air, on the ground, he’s lightning quick, ultra fast. Plays big. 50/50 balls are really not 50/50 balls, more like 90/10 balls. You can tell that everybody believes in him. And they got a lot of him around their football team, and it’s a tremendous supporting cast that allow him to be the best player he can be. But he does it all. He’s got got great center of gravity, good contact balance when he does have the ball in his hand. He’s got great vision. He’s an overall… he’s as good as advertised, that’s for sure.
What’s been the most impressive aspect of Drake’s season?
I think just the consistency of him every week, growing and getting better. You know, I think that there’s a… we talked about this word courage, and I said this earlier in one of my interviews. I said that it takes a lot of courage for coaches to play freshman, but it takes a lot of courage from the player as a freshman to play and play at a high level. It takes a lot, and there’s a relationship on both ends. You have to be able to trust somebody to do that, especially eight and a half years into your career, you know, at one place. But I feel like, you know, we have so much confidence in what he does. And you saw how the confidence we had in the conversation on the headset was, you know, we’re gonna, we’re gonna put this thing in five’s hands. That’s the best shot we have to win this football game. And I thought he came through, but he’s used to that. I keep saying the greatest high school game I ever watched was Koi’s and his, you know, and you go back and he put the team on his shoulders in the state championship game that I was at. He’s used to that. He likes that. It doesn’t mean every time he’s going to win it, and every time it’s going to be a win or a success, and he’s not going to fail and grow. And he can learn, but he learns through the failing. He learns through the success. He’s so fun to coach. He’s so coachable. He’s a really humble young man. He’s got a great family. There’s so many positive things to say about him that, that’s why I told you I love coaching his team, and it starts with the quarterback. We know he’s only going to continue to get better, but that doesn’t mean he’s always going to continue to have 100% success. We know that, and that’s the journey we’ve decided to go through with him. So we got a lot of years, we got a lot of time, but the time is now, and that’s what I love about him. He doesn’t feel like, Oh, I’ve got all this time, nope. Every day is like the Super Bowl to him. That’s the way he practices, that’s the way he watches film, that’s the way he leads his football team. And I think the team really, really believes in him. And we have a lot of young players with that type of field. I mean, you’re starting to see what Jalen Smith. When I told you about Jalen Smith, how much we believe in him, you start to see that come out. There’s just a lot of young players. And with young players’ development, there’s a developmental program.
How did you look at the Gopher defense after Rutgers?
Yeah. I mean, I thought they were relentless in their effort. I thought they never quit. They played the way that we want them to play for 60 minutes, but it wasn’t perfect. And I’m not, I’m not looking in the ideal and perfection world. I’m not. I’m looking in the realistic world. I don’t think we tackled as well as we did in past weeks. Part of that is that Rutgers is really good. Their backs are really good. Their O line is really good. Their run game is really good. They put you in minus one numbers really quickly. But you have to be able to make some tackles in space. Get people on the ground. There were more third down runs. As I mentioned in my postgame press conference, a lot of third down runs. And that’s what Kirk does. He keeps you guessing. He’s really good at that. And he’s, he has no problem running it on third and 13 or third and 16 or third and eight and picking it up. But he also, you can sit there and you know, third and 12, and he put in his great calls on third and long, and still keep you unbalanced, and still be able to pick up the first down in the pass game. So he does a really good job of constantly keeping you guessing. But I loved, I loved how our defense finished that game, that that pass breakup that Kerry Brown had might be one of the plays of the game, second to last play. Before the ball even goes through the legs of faith. And so, I mean, that was a heck of a play, a huge play in the football game. That ball is thrown perfect, and KB makes an unbelievable play on it, and Koi is right there and almost picks the ball off. Koi travels, you know, two thirds of the field while the ball’s in the air. So they were relentless in their effort and their pursuit. We’ll clean up a lot of the things that I don’t think we’re really good at, fundamentally in the tackling game, but we’re playing one of the most efficient offenses in the entire country. I’m not talking one of the most explosive offenses in the country. They are, but efficient on first and second down and third down, one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the country. That team, I mean they just, Rutgers scored more points than Indiana did against Iowa. That’s a really good football team offensively, with a lot of older guys. And I thought our guys did a tremendous job of playing 60 minutes. We knew they were going to be able to get some shots. They were be able to get some positive, positive plays, but they hung in there and made enough plays at the end.
On Darius Taylor’s health
I’m sure there’ll be another report this week. Whatever people want to, what adjective you want to describe him as this week, feel free, but two hours for kickoff, we’ll know.
Have you seen a difference in the crowd noise here?
Yeah, I think micros Vicky (not sure who this is referring to) has done a tremendous job and his staff of creating an elite gameday environment over my last you know, nine years here, from where we were when we first got here to where we are now. One, our fans, our season ticket holders, people that come to our game work really hard throughout the week, buy tickets, come bring their kids to games and really enjoy our game day atmosphere, which I think has gotten tremendously better over the last nine years. But I really, really love our student body. I mean, our student section has improved so much since day one, and I can’t thank them enough. I mean, this is what college is all about. This is what the student experience is all about. It’s about coming to football games in the fall. It’s tailgating, and we drive right through, you know, Greek row as we get into the stadium, they are letting it rip, that’s for sure. Every single day. This was eight in the morning, and I can’t imagine what they were like at night. But I can’t thank them enough, and I love going by ’em, and it’s such a great experience to listen to them. And I agree. Our staff even said that. And so that was even a little bit different. That felt like a night game against a top five team in the country, type atmosphere in terms of how loud it was. And I can’t thank our fans enough, and that’s the home field advantage that you want to create for your team. And I think our student body does an amazing job of that, and all our fans do. So keep doing it. Keep doing it. Even start earlier. Row The Boat. Ski-U-Mah. Go Gophers.