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University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes
10/28/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Minnesota Postgame Quotes
Head Coach P.J. Fleck
Oct. 28, 2017
Kinnick Stadium - Iowa City, Iowa
Opening Statement:
"Thanks everyone for being here with us today. Thanks to those who made the trip. What a football game that was. It was very close all the way down to the end on the last possession. I'm disappointed we didn't get the win, but I'm very proud of our players' efforts. I'm very proud of our defense. They had an elite performance. Offensively, I thought we ran the ball very well. We had to get back in the pass game. We did some things that we hadn't done before in terms of creating some restraints to get out of the pocket and things like that. However, we didn't execute well enough. It came down to execution. We had guys open down the field open for big plays, be dropped the ball or overthrew it. The plays were there to be made, we just didn't make them. Ultimately, it comes down to me and the leadership of this football team, and we didn't finish. It's unfortunate. We've been in every single game all the way down to the end, and in some we've finished and others we haven't. In this league, you've got to find a way to finish. These guys are learning some valuable lessons for the future. Like I told them, I apologize to the seniors that we couldn't get them a pig for their senior year, but they did everything they could to get it. I'm so proud of their efforts and how hard they fought. That was not the issue in terms of effort, spirit, and passion for both sides of the ball. It was just execution. "
On the efforts of the defense after the first drive:
"Well first of all, they did a tremendous job. The first drive is usually scripted, and that's where you have most of your success. We've had a lot of our success on the first drive, because you're doing things or tweaking something here or there they haven't seen. You've game planned and schemed that for the first 10. Once you kind of show all that, then it's adjustments after that, they go to the sideline, they adjust to all that. Then, it's a cat and mouse game from there. But, I thought our defense did a great job of settling down. We were able to set the edge a lot better. I thought with the inside running game with Steven and Merrick and Andrew held the point very well with Gary Moore. We were able to stunt a little bit more, move a lot more. But again they hit us with a few big plays. I give a guy like Justin Harris a lot of credit. He should not be playing right now, but he's playing ââ'¬" and that's a compliment to him. I think he's tough enough and good enough to play. He's going to fail and grow, but I'm proud of his response. He's tough as nails. I'd go back out there all over again with him in the same place, just because of how hard he fought. Our team is learning a lot of valuable lessons. The seniors are learning a lot of lessons for the rest of their lives, and our youthful football team is learning a lot of lessons to create that armor, leather skin, and those scars for the future of our program. I'm very proud of our coaches and our players. I was inspired by the way they played, and they don't let their deficiencies affect them. The next guy in is playing his tail end off. I'm proud of them for that. We just simply didn't execute well enough and that falls back on me. "
