PJ Fleck calls Michigan the best team he's seen as head coach
The Minnesota Golden Gophers were dominated in a 52-10 loss to the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday night and Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck was clearly impressed.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Fleck heaped plenty of praise on the second-ranked Wolverines and even called them one of the best teams he's ever seen.
"I think they're the best football team I've seen in 11 years being a head coach," Fleck said. "I've never seen a football team like that. ...They're one of the deepest teams, one of the best teams, one of the biggest teams, fastest teams, strongest teams and they do not make mistakes."
Fleck complimented the Wolverines' execution which led to a pick-six by Will Johnson on the second play of the game and snowballed into a 21-point lead late in the first half. Fleck also said that his team's inability to stay on schedule played a key role in the blowout.
"They are truly like a boa constrictor and they do not beat themselves," Fleck said. "...We got beat tonight, period. Okay? We didn't lose the game. They beat us period in every facet, every aspect of the game. Offense, defense and special teams. You can't win games by giving them pick-sixes. We were off schedule [and] I said the main difference was they were really efficient and we were off schedule and it felt like we were behind the chains the entire game."
Fleck was criticized on social media for his clock management during the Gophers' final drive of the first half. With Minnesota moving into Michigan territory, Fleck had his team stand at the 40-yard line facing a 4th-and-2 with two timeouts before whittling the clock down to 22 seconds.
The Gophers converted the fourth down on a five-yard carry by Bryce Williams before calling their timeout and Athan Kaliakmanis tossed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Jackson with six seconds left in the half to put Minnesota on the board. But many wondered why Fleck ran the clock down instead of continuing the drive and creating a better opportunity to score a touchdown.
"I didn't want to give the ball back," Fleck reasoned. "We were going to go for it on fourth down, so let the clock come down to 22 seconds and then we got the first down, clocked it and then we knew we were going to take a shot at the end zone. If we didn't get the shot at the end zone, we were going to kick a field goal. We were going to come away with points either way, but I wasn't going to not get the fourth down and give the ball back to them with a minute to go on the 35-yard line."
Fleck also mentioned the Wolverines' depth as a key reason for the loss as he was told that 74 of the 75 players that Michigan brought to Huntington Bank Stadium got into the game on Saturday night. By comparison, the Gophers played a slew of younger players due to injuries including freshman running back Darius Taylor, who missed his second straight game with to a leg injury.
"That shows you what I'm talking about," Fleck said. "That inexperience. Then when you lose some starters, you've got to play some other guys."
Fleck said that getting healthy is a priority for the Gophers, who enter the bye week with a 3-3 record. While Fleck stressed that his team needs to get better, he also called the first six games a learning experience where they've "seen everything."
"We got blown out, we've been in overtime, we've had a game-winning field goal, we won by what we're supposed to win by, we had a lead, lost it in the fourth quarter, we had to come back being down and beat a really good team (Louisiana) who beat Texas State tonight," Fleck said. "We've done a lot of things. We've lost a lot of players. We've got to get healthy. But I said there are six games...out of those six games, we played really good teams and now we've got to learn from those six games, draw a line in the sand and play way better in the second half."
The Gophers will return to action when they travel to Iowa, a team that Fleck has never beaten during his tenure at Minnesota, on Oct. 21.
