Fleck's coaching ability roasted after 'unacceptable' loss to Northwestern
Blowing a 31-10 lead in the fourth quarter to a Northwestern program that was on the ropes is arguably the worst loss of head coach P.J. Fleck's time in Minnesota. Heck, it might rival the painful losses ex-coach Glen Mason's Gophers had against the likes of Michigan and Texas Tech. Remember those?
Northwestern was down 31-10 in the fourth quarter only to shred the Minnesota defense with three scoring drives, including an 80-yard drive ending with the game-tying touchdown with two seconds left in the game. In overtime, the Gophers dinked and dunked their way to a field goal while Northwestern homered on the first play with a 25-yard game-winning touchdown pass.
"Completely unacceptable in the fourth quarter, period," Fleck said. "We got to give Northwestern a lot of credit. They went out there and got it done. We didn’t."
Minnesota's offense punted on five of six possessions in the second half and tallied just 119 yards in the second half against a Northwestern defense that was scorched by Duke a week earlier.
As wretched as Minnesota's offense was in the second half, the defense was worse, giving up 492 yards, including 400 yards in the air, to a Northwestern team that was averaging 286 yards before facing the Gophers.
"Speechless. No excuses for that performance. Easily one of the worst Gophers losses in my lifetime as a Gophers fan," said GopherHole contribute Tony Liebert. "Year 7 of the P.J. Fleck era, no idea how that can happen. Inexcusable."
Needless to say, there's a mob of pitchfork-wielding fans angry with Fleck. many of them defining Fleck as more of a recruiter than a coach.
