Fleck on loss to Iowa: 'It was really poor on my part'

The Gophers struggled to score points and couldn't defend the Hawkeyes' offense, and it all showed in an ugly 35-7 loss that dropped the squad to 1-3 on the season. It's clear Minnesota wasn't good — and Coach P.J. Fleck is taking the blame for his team's lackluster performance.

“It’s on me," Fleck said during his weekly press conference on Monday. "We were behind the chains more than we usually are, which affects the play-calling. We had two 10-minute drives and come away with no points. We missed a field goal. It was really poor on my part.”

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Against Iowa, the Gophers finished with 312 yards of offense — an average of 4.3 yards per play — but turned the ball over twice and punted six times, which allowed Iowa to tally 346 yards and put up 35 points. The Hawkeyes had the ball nearly 13 minutes less than Minnesota but yet won the game by four scores — and that can't happen.

Gophers' quarterback Tanner Morgan wasn't at his best — completing just 16-of-33 passes for 167 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions — but running back Mohamed Ibrahim (33 carries for 144 yards) and wide receiver Rashod Bateman (eight receptions for 111 yards and a TD) had big outings to carry the offense.

Despite Ibrahim and Bateman's performances, the Gophers were still only able to get into the end zone once.

“It was inconsistent," Fleck said of the overall offensive rhythm. "It wasn’t some drastic wrong routes — it was the small just-missed. That’s how I saw our pass game on Friday. We usually hit those, and if you can, you get into that rhythm. We haven’t had eight drops in a game in a very long time.

"What I like is that when we don’t play that way, it stands out like a sore thumb. There is a standard of how we play, there is an expectation of how we play and there is an expectation of how we coach. I’m the first one to take 100% accountability for it because it had to do with something I did. I’ve gotta be better in the details more than I have been, and I’ve gotta be clearer.”

Minnesota now heads into its fifth game of the year needing to turn things around — especially when the Gophers are about to face a Purdue team that suffered just a 27-20 loss to No. 23 ranked Iowa last Saturday.

"We're just going to keep getting better and keep growing," Fleck said.

Kickoff between the Gophers and Boilermakers is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday at TCF Bank Stadium.

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