Playing not to get blown out? PJ Fleck defends punt decisions

"It turned out the exact way we wanted it to turn out, so I feel like it was a win-win on both sides."

Playing not to get blown out? That's what boatloads of Minnesota Golden Gophers fans are accusing head coach P.J. Fleck of after Saturday's 37-3 drubbing against the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes. 

Trailing 7-0 with under a minute to go in the first quarter, Fleck elected to punt rather than go for it on 4th-and-5 from the Ohio State 40-yard line. The defense held Ohio State to a field goal and on the next offensive series Fleck again chose to punt rather than go for it on 4th-and-5 from the Buckeye 42-yard line. 

"Here's what goes through your mind: 4th-and-2, 4th-and-1, I'm all in on that. Fourth-and-5, why not pin 'em down?" Fleck explained after the game. "I thought our defense settled down, kept them out of the end zone. The game's way shorter, you make them go 90-some yards and there's the ability of, they could screw up. We're not just banking on them screwing up, but there could be a safety, there could be a bad snap, we could pick the ball off, it could change the game like that.

"You don't get [the first down] and they go down and score, the game's over. And you saw that in the second half how fast, bang-bang, two plays, 1 minute, 7 seconds, it was out of reach. Why did I want to do that the first quarter? Why did I want to do that to my team in the second quarter? My job is to manage the game to always keep my team in the game."

Minnesota trailed 13-0 at the half before Ohio State mugged the Gophers with two touchdowns in a span of 67 seconds in the third quarter, effectively putting the game on ice against a Gophers team that produced 159 yards of total offense. 

"Fourth-and-5, nope. We pinned them down both times and thought our defense played really well. So that's why I made that decision," Fleck persisted. "It turned out the exact way we wanted it to turn out, so I feel like it was a win-win on both sides. It's just, second half, those two quick touchdowns just put the game out of reach."

The Gophers (5-6) have lost three straight and need to beat Wisconsin in the last act of the regular season next Saturday to become bowl eligible.