[jwplayer gSlNmwGc-XNcErKyb]
MINNEAPOLIS — Sometimes, when your team gets blown out, as Minnesota did by Michigan in the 2020 season opener, the head coach credits the other team.
That’s not what P.J. Fleck did.
While he did take responsibility for the 49-24 loss, Fleck put more of the onus on his defense’s inexperience than he did what his team what incapable of doing against a hungry Michigan team that also had a lot of inexperience on both sides of the ball.
“It started early. We weren’t in some of our gaps. Some of our young guys are getting experience for the first time and making them grow up really quick,” Fleck said. “With Braelen Oliver out, there are a lot of young guys getting in there. Somebody out of a gap, somebody not in the right place and it comes spitting out. Same defense, same calls. Doing everything we can to protect our players. It’s that inexperience at times that can come back and
bite you.”
[lawrence-related id=29001,29105,28999]
While he may have seen some of the inexperience come into play early, it was still a hotly-contested game until midway through the second quarter. The Gophers had taken an 11-point deficit, but cut it to just four before going down 11 again, and eventually 18 before the half.
What really broke Minnesota’s back was the decision late in the first-half to attempt a fake punt deep in their own territory. Michigan sniffed and snuffed it out before using it to stretch the lead to 17 and essentially put the game way.
The way Fleck sees it, his coaching staff was unprepared for the looks they saw. Of course, with it being a new season, with new personnel and it being a big game environment, Michigan wasn’t going to just line up and do everything that had been previously scouted before.
But this is P.J. Fleck’s world — we’re just living in it.
Regardless, he took the lion’s share of responsibility, but again, blamed it on inexperience.
“Michigan did a lot more two-back than they ever have,” Remember when I said there was going to be 60% of what we maybe saw and 40% of what we didn’t see? That was a little reversed. About 40% of what we saw and 60% of what we didn’t see. So, you’ve got these new guys in there, there’s no excuses, but I’m just telling you how it is. You’ve got the new guys in there, you got young guys up there, whether it’s in the secondary at the safety position, or the linebacker position, and it’s difficult.
“But, they learned valuable lessons tonight. They grew up. They’re going to have to fail to grow. But, I told them in there that this could be the best thing that’s ever happened to this football team this year in 2020. There’s a lot to pull from it that’s positive. Everybody’s disappointed we didn’t win, starting with me. But, why we didn’t 100% falls on me.”
[lawrence-related id=29056,29085,29023]
To put things in perspective, while Minnesota did have to replace a large chunk of its defense and was without two starting offensive linemen, Michigan had a new starting quarterback, four new starters on the offensive line, a new starting tight end, two new starting receivers, a new starting defensive tackle, a new starting VIPER, a new starting safety — who was out with injury for the second-half — a true freshman who replaced him, and two new starting cornerbacks.
[vertical-gallery id=29051]