P.J. Fleck Show: Gophers host No. 5 UCLA after Indiana loss

The PJ Flex Show is presented by Window Concepts and Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union. Our how is everything. How you do something matters. Culture. How. Next on the how is that better be first. The PJ Flex Show starts now. Hi everyone and welcome to another edition of the P.J. Fleck Show, joined as always by the head coach of Gopher Football, P.J. Fleck, alongside Gophers Hall of Famer, Ron Johnson, KFAN's Justin Guard. I'm Pierre Newsom. They needed more than 60 minutes to decide a winner between the Gophers and the Hoosiers, but in the end, the Gophers fall just a touch short. 23-16 is the final against Indiana. P.J., now that you've had a couple of days to take a step back, watch the film. What stood out to you about this game, in particular your team's effort? You guys were right there until the very, very end. Yeah, I'm really proud of our football team, just their fight, their resolve. We talked about the result's going to take care of itself. How you play is how we're going to evaluate this, how hard we play, the determination we play with, how do we play a really complementary team. Football and I thought we did that and we gave ourselves the best chance to win Make you kick with 19 seconds left. Unfortunately, they got some star players, too and they were gonna have to kick a 60-yard field goal into the wind to beat us at least send it in overtime and they Did and they earned it too. So I mean anybody could have won this game Just unfortunately, we weren't able to get it done and Hoover goes out Wilson comes in We're not talking about, you know, Tom Hanks is Wilson on the on an island This is an actual person but he comes in as a head coach As a head coach, how do you guys, because I know you prepare for everything, but how do you get your defense to understand nothing should change, he's just as good as the other guy? Yeah, well we knew that. He's a seventh year player, we have a ton of film on him. When Hoover went out, we figured this guy can push the ball down the field, he can throw it. He's got incredible feet too, so he can run it, he's a big quarterback. Again, one of the last plays he makes, I mean, we're talking about a guy who puts it in a window, a 40-yard throw into this tiny little box in the corner of the sideline, and their first-round draft pick, wideout, makes a huge play on the ball and gives him a chance to kick a 60-yarder. And, you know, if you would have told me you got a 60-yard field goal to beat us into the wind, we probably would have taken it, right, or at least tie it with us having the lead. We would all probably take that. Kid made a great kick, but the quarterback came in. I thought he played really well. But overall, I mean, we had enough plays to win that game. So did Indiana. Took overtime to decide it. Cast Away is the movie you're looking for, by the way, the next time you want to use that reference. You've already kind of mentioned the final drive. You get the 60-yarder, which is incredible in its own right, to go up three. There's still 19 seconds left. So take us in the headset on what you were trying to do defensively to try to make them earn every yard. Yeah, we kick it out of the end zone. We don't squib it. You know, squibbing can go out of bounds. You can hit somebody on the front line. You can have even better field position. If all goes well the whole timings a little bit different fits are a little bit different They could have popped one probably just kick it out of the end zone was the best thing to do You're playing a technique where you're playing catch technique, and then you turn into man coverage underneath There's a trail technique plus there's a safety on top So you have a bracket with it bracketed under and on top and pretty much knew the ball is gonna go to 80 They throw a back shoulder balls thrown out of bounds and the kid makes a great job Keeping his feet in bounds and more that play from not and that close from knocking the ball down Don't do it, which, again, is not anybody's fault. It makes a great throw. Literally, there is a box this big that kid could put the ball in, and he did. They run the next play. We almost pick it off, and then they were almost deciding, do we go for a Hail Mary or a field goal, and then they sent the kicker in who's a different kicker from earlier in the game, who's a long-distance field goal kicker who just kicks as hard as he can, as powerful as he can, and that ball's a knuckleball, and it's moving like this. And, unfortunately, went through the uprights, went to overtime, and couldn't get it done. You touched on it, but I'm always curious about a coach's thought process and mentality and philosophy, really, in a situation like that. You go up three late in the game. I know that there was a little bit of controversy, if you will, that Eagles-Jaguars game from a few weeks ago where the Eagles decided to kick short. There was a big return by Jacksonville. They kicked the game-winning field goal, and everybody's on Nick Sirianni saying, well, why didn't you just kick it out of the back of the end zone? I see it from both ways, but in that particular situation, do you have a specific philosophy that you like to follow? Take us through where you're at in terms of that decision. Yeah, I mean, they're into the wind, so we have the wind. Use the wind, kick it out of the end zone. We always go pregame about where their field goal kicker can make it from. If the game's on the line, into the wind with the wind. So our yard marker is about the 38, 39-yard line. Remember, they have the ball at the 42. Now, we turned in some things to the officials because the ball was about a yard spot in front. But I can't challenge the spot. So the spot, probably 43 and a half-ish, maybe, is where they caught it, which is almost a 61-yard field goal. Into the wind. We're going to take our chances every time with that, you know, and I thought at one point they're going to throw a Hail Mary, but this guy made it by 10 more yards. So you got to give them credit. One thing I love about that game was anybody could have won it. That's a top four team in the country. Our players took the logo and the rankings off and just played our style of football. And Indiana did too. And we showed we can go toe to toe with anybody. The challenges just keep coming at this football team. We played more ranked teams than we ever have. It's probably the hardest schedule we've ever had. And our kids are unfazed by it. They go out there and play our style of football, learn from our mistakes to create our future, and they had a great week of practice starting today. Yeah, when you look at that over time, you know, you had three plays, you know, basically four plays inside the five-yard line. And when you're looking at, or, you know, in the red zone, when you're looking at the way the team handled it, you know, from first play to last play, is there anything you can take from that to say, I wish we'd have done this better or? They gave me everything they could give me. They gave me everything they could give me. I mean, I wish I would, you know, go back and say, okay, maybe we should have called a player here that was a little bit different because it didn't work, but you don't have that. We get the ball down to the eight. We're on a quarterback draw. Nobody's seen a quarterback draw out of our quarterback. Get to the three-and-a-half-yard line. We get one where we snap the ball early. So, again, the ball gets snapped a little bit early. I'm really excited. And then, you know, they create pressure on Drake, and, you know, unfortunately we weren't able to get that part done. Block a field goal. They have a muff snap. Your punter was great. We've already mentioned the 60-yarder. Luke Trzeciak made like a 51 or 52-yarder. Somebody asked me on the sideline as he was going up, what's your number for Luke? I said, I don't know, 80? I mean, at this point, what limitations do you put on him? But the special teams, we've talked about it every week. I think this is year 10 of this show. I don't think we've ever talked about special teams. impacting winning for you as much as they have. What can you say just about the totality of that group? Well, I think DDP's done a great job. I think the connection of that room is really close, really tight. That's a credit to all of our players. We said beginning of the year, more than any team I've ever coached here at the University of Minnesota, maybe ever, we're going to need complementary football. And we're going to need when the offense isn't playing well, the defense is going to have to play lights out, special teams are going to have to make up the difference. If the defense isn't playing great, the offense is going to have to make it up, and the special teams are going to have to make it up. If we're playing offense and defense really well, our special teams, they're always expected to play really well. We have, for the formula to win with this team, is we have to play complete complementary football and help each other out. I'm not saying we have to play perfect on offense, defense, and special teams all the time. I'm talking about complementary football, complementing each other, doing what it takes to win games, and I thought we did a really good job of that the other night. And looking at special teams, there was a moment where you and the referees didn't agree. They call it, I think. Roughing the, or whatever. Running into the kicker, not roughing the kicker. There's the whole, like, was he out of the box, was he not? He only took four steps, so he was in five yards of the box. But did you write a letter to the refs about that one as well? Yeah, you don't write any letters anymore, Ron. Okay, it's emails. It's an email. It's actually a program, the computer program. Like, not AI-ish, but you submit plays. Okay. And you say why you disagree with the call. Yep. And then you send them into the Big Ten. They only allow you to send in 10. A game or a year? A game. Okay. And we used all 10, and, you know, they give you a report back and say we agree or we disagree, and it's unfortunate because I think that is roughing the punter. That's the definition of what roughing the punter is. But, you know, the thing didn't come down to – the game didn't come down to just the officials, right? But that's why, like I said, there's one of the officials I've known forever. He's on our sideline, and people see me on TV. If you're watching this show, then you probably watch our games. And I'm literally we're one minute into the game and I'm already going berserk on the sideline and I look at the guy I've known forever. He's actually the USC guy And I'm screaming at when we score a touchdown, the quarterback sneak, where everybody thought I was yelling at him, but I was actually complimenting him in a passionate way. But I'm like, we're a minute into this thing, and we're on CBS, and everybody now thinks I'm a maniac again, because I have to argue this call because this is not right. And there was a misinterpretation that we didn't want the ball down there on our punt. It still went 50 yards. I wanted the punt. So there was some, you know. Did they agree that it was roughing? I don't they don't necessarily agree or disagree with you they say if I'm wrong I'm sorry but this is what I thought and then you move on and then you tell them what you thought. And then you move on. You can't yell the whole game if you don't start in the first minute, though. Just remember that. You can't yell the entire game. It's a 60-minute game. I just don't, I mean, I'm just, I don't know if I'm just going to sit there. Stoic. If I don't move, I wonder what our fans would do. Like if I just sit and just go like this. PJ's checked out. He used to be passionate. Man, this guy's lost it. Joe Paterno. Well, Joe Paterno wouldn't lose it every once in a while. I'm 45. Joe Paterno didn't have anything to yell about. If it was roughing the kicker, Penn State got it. Go ahead, Pierre. I just wanted to touch on the run game here real quick, if I may. Please, yes. Darius Taylor and T.J. Thomas, Xavier Ford, between the three of them, you guys averaged over six yards a carry in the game. What improved or what did you see perhaps change in the run game this week that leads you to believe that, hey, this can get even better and better as the week progresses? Yeah, I think our line played a lot better in this game. This is a really good defense. It's one of the best defenses in the country. I thought we controlled the line of scrimmage for the most part. Again, they're really stout. They're really big. They've got great corners. They've got great safeties, linebackers, D-line. But I thought we did a good job scheming them up, hitting it, running downhill. I thought our running backs ran very hard, very aggressive. And again, it's... It takes everybody to do it. At the beginning of the year, I think it was like Virginia. They have all their old linemen back. They're running the football. They're the best running offense in the country. And then I think they scored seven points last week. Like, it's... You've got to continue to find a way to keep growing. Everything changes every week in college football. There's a whole new challenge that's ahead of you, whether it's run game, pass game. And so you're adapting to that. And you're finding out what your players are good at. You obviously are playing really good football teams. It's not an excuse. It's a reason. These people are really good. That's our third straight, I think, top 10 defense that we played. And now we get to play a top 15 defense again. It's just what a great challenge to be in the best league in the country, play against the best. But at the end of the day, when there's limited possessions, you've got to do really well and score as many points as you possibly can because it could be a low-scoring, low-possession affair. Yeah, it certainly could. And it's going to be another great one this weekend against UCLA. We'll talk about that game a little later in the show. But when we come back... We'll be joined by one of the key pieces on defense here. Defensive lineman Jackson Howard is going to join us on set. You don't want to miss that conversation when we come back on the P.J. Flex Show. Welcome back to the P.J. Flex Show. Thanks for staying with us here on the P.J. Flex Show. Right now, we are joined by one of the key pieces along this defensive line, Jackson Howard, with us on the show. Good to see you, Jackson. Good to see you. Appreciate you for having me. Always a pleasure to have you. Let's start with what we saw over the weekend. You guys take the defending champs down to the wire. What has been the message between the players after the game, leading into this week after that game, knowing that that contest really turned into a real toss-up at the end of the day? Yeah, I think, honestly, the biggest thing is probably just togetherness. Realizing that it did come close, but at the end of the day, we didn't do what we had to to get it done. So now finding out what it is that we have to do to be able to give that extra 1%, that extra minute at the end of the game as a whole team to be able to come out with wins like that. Because college football nowadays is hard. And you have to play it full 60 minutes, and sometimes even more than that. So knowing that we have to just continue to come together as a team and play a lot of complementary football. That's been our main goal, and knowing that after that game, after the loss, you have 24 hours to be upset about it, but then you've got to watch it. We've got a whole new game this weekend. Again, so... Yeah, we're excited. I'm sure we'll see it here. Your first career interception just before halftime on Saturday. So take us through that play, what you saw. Good hands, obviously. And T.J. Bush just had one a couple of games ago. The D-line all of a sudden has got pillows. What's going on? Well, really, that's all T.J. feeding it to me. He got his hand up at the right time, tipped it. And so I'm engaging with the guard, and I just look up and my eyes start getting wide. And so it's funny that... But last week, we're actually working on our tip drill after practice, just making sure that the ball is always a program here. And I actually did not do the best job at high-pointing the ball, so I apologize, Coach. That's why you don't play tight end or wide out, which we did have a discussion a long time ago about playing tight end here. But keep going. Yes, sir. There it is right there. Yeah, man. I caught it. I started running. You were thinking house call, too. I was. You were thinking pick six. If you see right here, I'm chinning that ball the whole time. I was so scared that I was going to get it punched out or something because the guy who knocks it out is the one you don't want to hit. So, yeah, and then you see the first guy, I mean, my boy Carter. Man, me and the defense were so living, man. I'm so happy to be a part of this defense. Yeah, it was certainly a big play in that moment. Congrats on the first career, INT, by the way. I know that's pretty big. PJ, you've had this young man for quite a while now. He's obviously such a key piece of your defense, key piece of your team. What more can you say about what he means to this team, both on the field and off the field? Yeah, one, he's a Minnesota young man, right, in the in-state talent. Two, he's one of the best human beings you will ever meet and one of the most compassionate and considerate people you'll ever meet. He represents the University of Minnesota in a first-class fashion always. He's amazing with the young people that maybe don't have it as good as us at times with the Children's Hospital and Ronald McDonald House. He's always the first to volunteer. I'm a volunteer. We always say that if you're a really good person, you're going to transform into a really good football player because that's just how you're wired. He's got an incredible family who supports him. And he's just an amazing human being, so you watch from where we got a chance to recruit him in high school to where he is now, the maturity, the emotional intelligence, the confidence that he has as a person, it's just all come together for him, and I couldn't be prouder of him. Defensive line, to me, seems like just an awesome group of dudes, and you guys all support each other, and I think it was the Washington game, something that stood out to me about you. Obviously, you know, I don't know what's going on in the sideline, but I can tell what the vibes are, and I think Anthony Smith may have gotten his hands up, may have deflected the pass forever. You were the first guy, you weren't even in on that snap. And you were behind just screaming, way to get your hands up on time. Like you guys all, it seems like, support each other, keep each other accountable, maybe even remind each other about what the important things are during a game. Oh, yeah. I think the hardest thing that we've been able to overcome throughout the season is that throughout adversity you've got to realize that the only people that are there is just you and your guys. And so making sure that no matter what's going on throughout the game, whether it's good. Or negative, you've got to be able to wash it and get out into the next play. And so realizing that when my guys make plays, I've got to get on them because we've been doing the same stuff right here on this field. So making sure that whatever we do on this field translates over to the game has been huge for us. Jackson, PJ mentioned your involvement in the community. Why is that important to you? And is there anything coming up on tap that you're going to be involved with in the community as well? Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me is kind of just I grew up in such a good household. And I had so much opportunity. But knowing that the schools that I went to, I've been able to experience that there's some people out there that didn't get the good things that I had. And so being able to do whatever I can with my platform and being able to be a part of this amazing university has just been able to help me just realize you have to be a lot extremely empathetic and realize that not everybody has the same situation as you. And so I actually have my Robbinsdale community give back for. You know, whoever's celebrating anything in December, being able to start a GoFundMe and fundraiser and just get as much money as possible as we can just get it out to the community. Yeah, certainly a great cause. Before we let you go, you have thoughts on UCLA? Top five team coming into town. You're going to be a real challenge for you guys. Yeah, I will. They're a very disciplined team. And just, you know, based off what we've seen on tape, they do very extraordinary things, but they do them at a high level. Being able to do what we do on defense at a high level and know that we have our keys, we have our reads, and now we just have to go play ball, it'll be an exciting game for sure. Yeah, there's no question it certainly will be. Jackson, we certainly appreciate you taking the time. We're going to miss you on the show, man. You're like a three- or four-time guy on the show. We could do you every week. You're the best. Welcome back any time. Welcome back any time. You can take over for Ron when you're done playing. How about that? I'm sure Ron will love that. Yeah, I'm sure he'll really love it. Jackson, we certainly appreciate the time. Best of luck this weekend against UCLA. Thank you very much. All right, when we come back, we'll talk a little bit more about this weekend's matchup against the Bruins. What's it going to take for Minnesota to slow down a top-five opponent? That conversation is next with the head coach on the P.J. Flex Show. You're watching the P.J. Flex Show. Welcome back to the P.J. Flex Show, everybody. It's time now to talk about this weekend's opponent. The UCLA Bruins are coming to town. They remain undefeated. P.J., you mentioned it a little bit earlier in the show. Their defense is pretty darn good. Seventh in total defense, fifth in points allowed. Again, it's another tough defense that you have to face. But what stands out to you when you study them on film, and what can you guys do to perhaps get them on their heels a little bit? They're really aggressive. They do all the small things at an elite level. They tackle really well. They keep everything in front of them. They eliminate explosive plays. They take care of the ball. They have a plus 15. turnover margin as a team plus 15 that's all you have to say that's second in the country so if you want to look at somebody you take the top 10 teams in the country and you look at the ball the turnover margin they're all at the top that is the number one statistic directly tied to winning right we're plus five and that puts us like 28th in the country five and three a ranked loss three ranked wins blah blah that's about right right but that you can always take that plus minus turnover battle They are plus 15. They're taking the ball away from opponents at a rapid rate. And the games become lopsided really quickly because they take care of the ball and they get a lot of takeaways on defense. And you've got a one-two punch at running back coming in. It's averaging 219 yards on the ground. But you've got games like Wisconsin and Oregon that they were able to slow them down a little bit. So when you look at that on film and your defense, the way you guys play, what are you telling your players about keeping these running backs in the pocket? Well, one, we've got to get the ball away. We've got to create takeaways. We've got to be able to stop the run, and we've got to be able to make plays on the outside, eliminate the explosive plays, tackle really well, swarm to the ball. Our swarm ratio to the football. The ball and tackle ratio has got to be really, really high. We've got to make sure we get these guys on the ground. They love to sustain drives, take the air out of the ball. Time of possession they've won in almost every single game they've played. They're a very opportunistic team. So they don't make many mistakes, and if you do, they're going to take advantage of it. They certainly lean into the running game. Have they leaned in even more since their starting quarterback got hurt? They're going with a backup here for the last handful of weeks. Kind of take us through the differences in his game. I think they've adapted very well to the new quarterback. I think he has his own skill sets that are at a high level. I mean, he's huge. He's really big. He's really tall. He's over 6'6". He can throw it. He's very mobile. So they've changed. A little bit, but not a lot. I mean, they want to run the football. They want to be able to move the pocket. They want to create explosive plays in the pass game. But they have one of the best running backs and offensive lines in the country. So they're going to want to run the football, and we know that. But we're also going to have to make sure that we do a really good job of getting the ball away and tackling really well. How surprising is it, if at all, to you? I'm sure you probably haven't spent that much time thinking about it, but this was a team that was really downtrodden over the last few years, and they have flipped the script really, really fast. I mean, what can you say about their – improvement in the way that they've just been able to turn the program around so quickly? I think there's teams that are very similar to this, and then I think you have the opposite. I don't think necessarily just because a coach takes over, you can get that to do it immediately. But Bob Chesney is one of the best in the business at it. If you look back at his career, he's won everywhere he's been. He's won championships everywhere he's been. He has elevated those programs at such a high level. And he also comes from JMU, which is where Kirk Snyder came from. Not that he was on that staff. He just was hired there. But you can tell that he brought a core nucleus from JMU. He added some really good players that were young that were at UCLA and played a lot of football. Then they brought in a lot of transfers as well who have played a lot of football. It's a very experienced football team that he's done a great job of making them a team very quickly. And I think that's one of the tricks is can you make that football group that you build initially in January, can you make that a team as the season goes? And he's done an outstanding job of that. It's not every time you do that you get that. That's why what they're doing is so special, and that's what Indiana has done is so special because it doesn't happen very often, but I've got to give him a ton of respect for what he's done. Well, we certainly can't wait to see how it all plays out this weekend. The Gophers and the Bruins kickoff is at 11 a.m. Thanks for joining us here on the PJ Flex Show, everybody. A reminder, if you enjoyed the show, please, please write us a letter expressing your admiration. We'll see you next week on the PJ Flex Show. We're going to give you Ron Johnson's personal email.