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P.J. Fleck reflects on Minnesota’s offensive woes vs. Bowling Green
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Minnesota’s offense did not play well on Saturday. That’s probably putting it way too kindly.
The Golden Gophers struggled to do much through the air in a 14-10 loss to Bowling Green, falling to 2-2 on the season. It was arguably the most disappointing performance for Minnesota since P.J. Fleck took over.
On Monday, as Minnesota prepares to jump back into conference play against Purdue, Fleck met with reporters to discuss Saturday’s poor performance. While he took a majority of the blame for the outcome, he also said that the injury to Chris Autman-Bell altered the game plan.
“100% of it starts with me,” Fleck said. “Chris went down after the second play and most of the game plan was directed towards him, to get him very involved in it. Dylan (Wright) didn’t play much in that game. And then we didn’t hit some shots and when you miss those, then we had to get to pretty simple pretty quick.”
P.J. Fleck on #Gophers offense struggles in Bowling Green loss: "It 100% starts with me." But he said WR Chris Autman-Bell leaving game early with injury was tough to overcome since he was big part of game plan. Good sign Autman-Bell practiced Sunday. @StribSports @GopherFootball pic.twitter.com/Z1VJvlcpPV
— Marcus R. Fuller (@Marcus_R_Fuller) September 27, 2021
Trey Potts had a strong performance on the ground, rushing for 141 yards on 27 carries. But it was the passing game that took a hit.
Tanner Morgan completed just 5-of-13 passes for 59 yards with 2 interceptions and no touchdowns. The Gophers ended the day with 241 yards of offense, 3 turnovers and missed a field goal attempt.
“Did not play well enough,” Fleck said. “It’s unacceptable, the way we played on offense.”
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB