<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2JzEn9_0w53bxIl00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2JzEn9_0w53bxIl00" width="1200" height="628" >Minnesota Gopher Football: Quotes from Minnesota head football coach PJ Fleck following the victory over UCLA.<h2>Opening Statement from PJ Fleck</h2>PJ Fleck: First and foremost, you've got to give UCLA a lot of credit. My goodness, what a football game. This is what the Big Ten is all about. There are no easy games in the Big Ten, period. And I'm not saying this was easy for them, it was easy for us. I'm not saying that. I'm saying there are no easy games.Look at the scoreboards as as we go through the week. SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, it's unbelievable. You have no idea. Jim Tressel said it best, you have no idea who's going to win. That's why he coached college football, had no idea. I mean, today went back and forth, back and forth.Probably one of the worst halves I've ever been a part of as a head coach in the first half. We're writing that part down, and we probably should. But what was amazing is you get 60 minutes to play football, and I always equivalent that to like, 60 years of your life. It's just done in 60 minutes and three hours of football.There's so many life lessons that our players learned tonight. And they, it's not that they learned it, they have it in them. That's what I tell you all the time. They're gonna be great husbands, fathers, dads, uncles, grandfathers. This is a life program.You're all going to judge us all wins and losses, I get that. But my goodness, even when we were down 17-14, I'm walking up and down, I wrote down in my notebook how proud of the team I am. This is unbelievable. Their resiliency, their resolve. We said it was just going to come down to come down to us, period.We gave them an analogy of boxing this week. You've got a team backed into the corner who played four top 20 teams and lost, and those records are 20-1. This team was a good football team, at their place, all the way across the country, with all the stats that everybody's writing about. 1-8 (across) multiple time zones. We just countered that all week.We just had to keep swinging and keep swinging and keep swinging. They came out swinging, and we knew we were going to get some shots taken at us, but we had to be each other's cornermen. That was the whole mindset. We have to self talk. We have to do it better.I'll be honest, halftime, I don't know if I've ever talked to a team like that at halftime. It was real honest. It was real honest to every single position group. And it wasn't negative, it was pumping confidence, belief into all of them, including coaches. Because that wasn't very good in the first half.But that's football. That is college football. How many people are going to have a press conference, 67 teams that lost, and say we didn't play our best football? It's coach talk, it's cliche, I get it. But we didn't, and they took advantage of it.We came out in the second half and played better football. Did we still play our best? No. That's why I love this team. They can keep growing and getting better. We won the turnover battle, which was incredible, three to nothing, I think that's the difference in the game.I can't tell you how proud I am of this football team, of our administration. Mark Coyle, our administration allowed us to be able to travel out here the way we needed to travel, that was going to be able to make the trip worthwhile. And with lots of people coming out, multiple two airplanes, that takes a lot for an administration in times like this to be able to do that. We needed that in the second half.I can't thank all of our fans. There are 15,000 plus in the Rose Bowl. They made the trip out here. In fact, we gave them a game ball. I'm not giving out 15,000 game balls. I'll get the bill for that one. Consider it an IOU. But what we're going to do, just as good as money. Some of you know that movie, some of you don't. But we're going to keep a game ball that says the fans on it from this day.I hope everybody who came here for the reasons that they came here for, of family memories, moments their grandfather told them about, had a glimpse of that. I know it's not the Rose Bowl bowl game, but I've never been here. This was special. Special for our program, special for our fans, because of the venue, where it is, the memories back in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s.I'm just proud to be the head coach of that football team in there. Mark McElroy, our officer, gave us a great speech this morning. He played here as an offensive lineman here. He gave an unbelievable story this morning at our captain breakfast. We gave him a game ball too. He sacrifices every Friday and Saturday in season to come spend time with us as a police officer. That's what's so cool about an organization. And you're all waiting to ask questions, but this is called stalling, because I really want to talk about the people that mean so much to this program.It's one win. It's 1-0. This isn't a championship, but it was a one game championship, and if the goal of the week is to win, there are no bad wins. Hard losses, they teach you a lot. This is just a tremendous win for our program. And you've got to give UCLA a lot of credit. They've got really good football players that played their tail end off, and Coach Foster should be congratulated for that.So with that, open up some questions.PJ, what do you feel like you saw that last drive with two minutes left for Max and the offense?PJ Fleck: Yeah, I thought that we could be able to open it up and throw the football down the field. We got into our two minute set where I think he's really comfortable. And I think some people are like, why don't you do two minute all game? It's just not how we play.But when he's in that mode, he's really, really comfortable. When we're able to use it, he's very effective. Our wideouts did a great job. I thought our players did a good job for the majority of the time.They had 10 penalties, we had four, and four is high for us. But I thought we kept our composure in that second half, and I felt like that was maybe some of the difference in some of those drives. I thought our guys did a really good job of being poised, but we pitched it and caught it.That last play, I don't think you know how hard that is. I mean it. He went through four reads. O-line held up, pressure in his face, kind of ducked, moved around, bang, found Darius, which is his last option, and Darius does the rest. That's execution.It came down in the first half, we didn't execute. Want me to read it to you? We had a drop that might score. We have a false start on the second drive, backed us up, couldn't get the first down. We dropped another ball on third down, third drive, ended. Missed the field goal on the fourth drive, and then you only have one more, and we punted.I mean, yuck.Second half way better. I thought that we got pressure on them all night, kept them off balance. They've got some really good players, as you saw, done a really good job.Why do you think you were as flat as you were in the first half. You mentioned you were maybe a little harsh at halftime? What was some of the message to the team at halftime?PJ Fleck: I didn't say harsh, I just said intense, positive, making sure they understand what they were doing. If I had the question or the answer, Ryan, to say why we were flat in the first half, I would have fixed it in the beginning.We crossed every t, dotted every i, but my responsibility is to make sure they come out ready to play for 60 minutes. It's a road environment, like I just told you, we didn't execute. That comes down to me.You think you have the schedule, right? You obsess about a schedule. You do it uniquely. You talk to as many people as you can. Remember I played in MACtion, I've done west-to-east, we've been out here twice in one year. We've been through it all. You come up with what your team needs.Not only that, I mean, we need a bye. I've never met a bye at a wrong time. We are beat up. We are held together by tape, bubble gum and straw. Straw doesn't really hold much together, but the scarecrow, kind of...So I don't know, Ryan, but it's college football. If every team came out flying, it would be 86-85. It's difficult to do, but our players overcame. You've got to give UCLA credit, they took it to us in the beginning, and we didn't capitalize on our opportunities. And again, that is my responsibility and my fault. I'd tell you that if we lost, it was 100% on me, and I even told them intensely, positively, and believing in themselves, the exact same thing, that it is my responsibility, and I failed them in the first half. 84 yards of offense in that first half, what challenges did UCLA's defense present in their pass rush? PJ Fleck: I thought they had a really good package in the first half. Again, there are a lot of self inflicted wounds that we're going to have to fix, because all I can control is us. But there were some things they were doing in some odd fronts, overloading sides, different blitzes. They pinned back their ears and came after us. They were able to be able to get some negative plays. We put ourselves in a position with a drop, another drop, a penalty, which gives credit to the crowd. All those things.But they, UCLA played as good as they've played in the first half that I've seen on film. That was a complete first half, and we didn't play as well, to their credit. They did some really good things on defense.And then offensively they were pitching and catching. They had a good rhythm. They were mixing up the run game with the naked game, play action game. Quarterback was running pretty well.We had no idea which one we were going to face. We had to prepare for ghosts, because we were preparing for two of them. Based on the data that you see, and you work through it, I actually thought we were gonna see 6 (backup QB Justyn Martin). We always say, "okay, if we we had to bet which one do we think we're going to see?" We thought we were gonna see 6. And I tell you, 4 (QB Ethan Garbers) did a really good job all day.<h2>Why 6, if I can just follow up, why did you think you would see him? </h2>PJ Fleck: Well, he played last game. We have no idea what the injuries are. We have no idea. That's the last game we saw, and he moved them down the field. So to me, like, okay, at the record you're sitting at, maybe he's the guy that's going be able to give them a spark. I have no idea.So you're preparing for two, but I have no idea what the injuries were. So you kind of assumed that maybe 4 was going to be out. If you had to pick one, you're probably sitting there going, well, maybe 6 was because he ended the Penn State game. Daniel Jackson had 10 catches on 13 targets. Two of them were on third down conversions. How about his game? But most importantly, what does he mean to the program? PJ Fleck: I think Daniel Jackson's going to go down as one of the greatest receivers in Gopher history. It's kind of fun, because we have a lot of them in that top 10 now. I know we're known for running the football and . But he is the ultimate playmaker.It's interesting, because Tyler Johnson's here too. He made the trip. He plays for the LA Rams. And Tyler's in here, and it's kind of fun when you have those guys keep coming back and being around the team.Daniel is able to make plays in the crucial moments under the pressure of the situation. I think it's one thing to be able to catch it and do your job. It's another thing to do it with the pressure of the situation. You go back to last year's Nebraska game, when he won it for us. What he's done this year for us. He's an ultimate playmaker, and he's only getting better.He's a great teammate. Over the last two years, I would say he's probably grown the most in his leadership and being just the best teammate he can be. That's all you can ask from him. I'm really proud of him, and his family should be really proud of him in the Kansas City area. <h2>PJ, what did you think of Koi's first interception?</h2>PJ Fleck: He's pretty good. Guys, that's what he does. That's what he does. I mean, I've never met a more confident person in my entire life. You know, even hanging with 82 back in the day, not even close to the confidence he had. I mean, not even close. I've never met anybody like him. I really haven't.I'm glad he's on our football team. I've never heard anybody say, when you go coach him, he's like I know, I know. That's it. He says "I know." Alrght, go get 'em bud. But every chance he touches the ball, you're like, wow, what is he going to do with it? He's got great eyes, he's got great feet.I keep telling the story about the Army All-American game. People in practice were kind of like, okay, is he this? Is he that? He's kind of gotten beat by some of these guys? He's a baller. He's a baller. Now, is he perfect? No. Is he growing? Yes. Is his best football ahead of him? Absolutely.He's a young true freshman, but I'm glad he's our true freshman. And I know this, the players love him. That's very difficult to do, because he's playing out there when some other guys aren't.I remember when I was in high school and I got a chance to play on varsity as a freshman. Heather always says don't talk about yourself, I got it. But I remember there were a lot of parents, a lot of players that were probably upset that I was playing. There's a freshman, and you've got seniors and juniors.Nobody. Nobody's upset he's playing. Nobody's upset he's playing well. That's what this team is. They connect, they grow, they want the team to succeed. Whoever's out there, they want to be able to to have success. And they love him. Not only just because he makes plays, but the type of person he is.What does it mean to beat LA schools in back to back weeks in terms of trying to recruit this area in the future?PJ Fleck: I'll be here next week. Ain't that right, boss? What's that song? California Dreamin'? I must have listened to that song 150 times throughout the week, and even pregame. All the leaves are brown, you know? It's The Mamas and The Papas? Am I right on that? I must have...I'll be listening to that on the way home too.It's huge for us. We're a national recruiting base. When you think about the state of Minnesota, with all due respect. Bob Motzko is going to love me for this comment. That is the State of Hockey. That's what we call ourselves, the State of Hockey.We have to go outside of our state of Minnesota. We take care of our in-state players. We're having more players commit to us in the state of Minnesota than we ever have, especially in the top 10. Even Koi's an example. Koi could have went anywhere in the country, including anywhere in this state.But we're a national base because of our coaches' connections of where they are. We turn over coaches a lot because I want them to go accomplish their dreams. But now we've got some connections in this area, just like when we were recruiting Las Vegas, and we were getting guys like Jordan Howden to walk on from Las Vegas who's now starting for the New Orleans Saints.This is a huge area, and now that we have the Big Ten platform from coast to coast, we're going to be out here an awful lot. I love California. It's a longer flight, costs a little bit more money, but there's a lot of good players out here. I'll be back here next week and really look forward to the guys we're going to see.It's good to be able to get those two wins, especially like last week and this week in the state of California. That helps us a lot, especially in the LA area.I can't thank everybody for coming out, our fans, our donors, our boosters. What a special evening for us. What a great comeback.Row the boat, Ski-U-Mah, go Gophers. Thanks for everything.</div></body>

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Everything that PJ Fleck had to say following Minnesota Football's victory over UCLA

Minnesota Gopher Football: Quotes from Minnesota head football coach PJ Fleck following the victory over UCLA. PJ Fleck: First and foremost, you've got to give UCLA a lot of credit. My goodness, what a football game. This is what the Big Ten is all about. There are no easy games in the Big Ten, period. And I'm not saying this was easy for them, it was easy for us. I'm not saying that. I'm saying there are no easy games.

Everything that PJ Fleck had to say following Minnesota Football's victory over UCLA

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