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It was another ugly weekend for Minnesota. This time, rival Iowa was the team handing the Gophers the punishment on the field.
Friday night, Minnesota struggled to move the ball offensively and fell apart defensively in the 4th quarter, resulting in a 35-7 loss to the Hawkeyes. It was the Gophers’ sixth-straight defeat in the battle for Floyd of Rosedale and dropped P.J. Fleck’s squad to 1-3 on the year.
Coming off a convincing win over Illinois, there was some hope that it might spark some confidence heading into the B1G West rivalry showdown. But Minnesota had no answer for the Iowa defense.
The Gophers got into the end zone just once, a late, garbage-time touchdown in the 4th quarter. They were penalized 8 times for 80 yards and turned the ball over twice in the 28-point loss.
After the game, Fleck met with the media to talk about what went wrong for the Golden Gophers Friday night. Here’s what the head coach had to say:
Coach Fleck on tonight's loss to Iowa. #Gophers pic.twitter.com/hpLQZY7rnk
— GopherHole.com (@GopherHole) November 14, 2020
Coach Fleck on not being able to get a balanced run and pass game going. #Gophers pic.twitter.com/wWe75dbyTl
— GopherHole.com (@GopherHole) November 14, 2020
PJ Fleck after terrible 35-7 @GopherFootball loss to @HawkeyeFootball: “100% falls on me.”
— Patrick Kessler (@PatKessler) November 14, 2020
P.J. Fleck said he called run on third-and-6 with the idea that they would go for it on 4th down. Once they lost a yard, he scrapped that idea.
— Chip Scoggins (@chipscoggins) November 14, 2020
Fleck said he got an unsportsmanlike penalty for being on the field.
— Chip Scoggins (@chipscoggins) November 14, 2020
I asked Fleck if he thinks Tanner Morgan has lost confidence and he said "I would not say that whatsoever."
— Chip Scoggins (@chipscoggins) November 14, 2020
Fleck on the timeouts at the end: "I have no idea. They called three timeouts. I don't know. I have no idea what happened."
— Chip Scoggins (@chipscoggins) November 14, 2020
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