PJ Fleck was adamant.

The situation that COVID-19 forced his defense into last season wasn’t ideal. Lots of first-year players in live game situations with few previous reps. Missed assignments. Weird, cavernous environments.

But the amount of upperclassmen who missed time with injuries and/or the virus has had the second-order effects Fleck said it would.

A lot of guys are getting good game experience, he insisted. And it’ll pay off.

It is.

“I think every coach in America wants to see consistency out of their teams, no matter what sport it is,” Fleck said this week. “I think consistency helps you evaluate. Not only that, but you know where you need to get better and where you’re improving. But I just continually see consistency and guys playing incredibly hard playing for each other.”

Last season, Minnesota ranked 10th in the B1G in total defense. It’s 5th this year.

Last season, it recorded 8 sacks in 7 games. It has twice that many in the same number of contests this season.

“That’s how you get better,” defensive coordinator Joe Rossi Jr. said. “You fail, you grow, you fail, you grow, you change … and you practice.”

The results are a big reason why Minnesota is 5-2 overall, 3-1 in Big Ten play and tied for first in the B1G West Division heading into Saturday’s game at Northwestern (2:30 p.m. CT, BTN).

It starts up front, where ends Boye Mafe, Thomas Rush and Esezi Otomewo are getting home more often and an interior helmed by Clemson transfer Nyles Pinckney is gumming up gaps.

But the Gophers are deeper than that, using a 6-8-man rotation at times.

The Gophers’ 16 sacks ranks 6th in the league. Their 85.7 rush yards allowed per game is 2nd — and 122 yards per game better than 2020.

“You take a lot of pride in that,” Rossi said, “because you know that defensive line this time last year, the outside world would be saying that they weren’t performing well. And the statistics would back that up. But listen, that isn’t what you focus on. You focus on the internal.”

That’s Minnesota’s M.O.: Control the line of scrimmage. Keep the opposition’s playmakers in front of you. Make the opportunistic play when it arises.

Timely interceptions this year by defensive backs Tyler Nubin and Terell Smith have been examples in that category.

And the linebackers might be one of the most-improved position groups in the conference. Transfer Jack Gibbens leads the team with 48 tackles. Mariano Sori-Marin, often the target of fans’ ire last season for trying to do too much, is leading a group that’s much more disciplined and effective than it was a year ago.

“It’s really just knowing that everyone’s got a job to do,” Rush said. “Coach Rossi, the whole coaching staff — at the end of the day, details and execution are where we get our reward from.”