Gophers get dose of reality in Fleck’s ‘Be Delusional’ approach

He has spent time as an NFL wide receiver, a sixth-grade social studies teacher and a football head coach for the past 13 years. As Saturday night stretched into Sunday morning at California Memorial Stadium, P.J. Fleck took on another role: a would-be pharmacist recommending some over-the-counter medication.

“It’s about swallowing the pill of accountability,” Fleck said after his Gophers suffered a fourth-quarter collapse in a 27-14 loss to Cal. “All of us — head coach, coaches, players, staff, everybody. … It’s simple. I didn’t do a good enough job of getting this team prepared, and maybe I overthought it."

The Gophers left Berkeley with their first loss of the season, one built on mistakes they avoided in a 2-0 start against overmatched Buffalo and Northwestern State. Facing an opponent from another Power Four conference, the Gophers didn’t own the key moments in a game that saw the Golden Bears leading 17-14 midway through the fourth quarter.

A missed 51-yard field-goal attempt by Brady Denaburg, which followed an unsuccessful and highly questioned run call on third-and-7 from the Cal 30-yard line, started the downturn. It continued when Koi Perich muffed a punt that the Bears recovered at the Gophers 8 and cashed in for a touchdown and 10-point lead three plays later. A turnover on downs led to a Cal field goal to end matters.

“Sometimes, you can just kind of feel the energy down a little bit, and that can’t happen,” said Gophers quarterback Drake Lindsey, who passed for 205 yards and a touchdown with an interception in his first road start.

The bye this weekend could help the Gophers rediscover that energy and tidy up their game.

“There’s only one thing we can do now; the past is the past,” Lindsey said. “We’ve gotta create our future at this point.”

That starts with a revenge game against Rutgers and quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, the former Gophers signal-caller who led the Scarlet Knights to a 26-19 victory over his old team in New Jersey last year. Kaliakmanis, a 68.8% passer this year, makes his return to Huntington Bank Stadium on Sept. 27. It’s one of a handful of games — Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State, Wisconsin are others — that figure to have a one-score margin, according to oddsmakers. Cal also fell into that category, and the Gophers realize they can’t waste such opportunities.

“When you’ve got two good teams going against each other and great players on both sides, you’ve gotta execute,” linebacker Maverick Baranowski said. “The plays in front of us, we’ve all gotta execute, and it starts with me.”

For the most part, the Gophers defense has been stout this season. The unit entered the Cal game ranked No. 1 nationally in total defense and passing defense and third in rushing defense. The Gophers fell to No. 2 in total defense (177.7 yards allowed per game) and No. 21 in passing defense (136.3) and moved up to a tie for No. 2 in rushing defense (41.3). Pro Football Focus gave Minnesota a 55.0 overall defensive rating, its worst of the season. The Gophers had missed a total of three tackles in their first two games. Saturday, they missed 10.

The Cal game exposed a couple of Gophers offensive weaknesses, too. With standout Darius Taylor out because of a hamstring injury, running backs had four receptions for only 7 yards. The Gophers entered the game with six penalties on the season. They committed eight against the Golden Bears, including five by the offense.

“It was just still too sloppy, that’s for sure,” Fleck said. “We’ll get it cleaned up, though. This is how guys learn. This is how this how you have to learn. Unfortunately, there’s an easy way and a hard way. The easy way is watching other people do it. The hard way is doing it yourself.”

Winning tight games has prevented the Gophers from returning to the lofty status they achieved in 2019, when they went 11-2 with an Outback Bowl victory over Auburn and the No. 10 ranking in Associated Press and coaches polls. They were 6-1 in games decided by eight points or fewer that season. Since then, excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, they went 3-3 in 2021, 3-1 in 2022, 3-2 in 2023 and 2-4 last year.

The loss to Cal has put the Gophers a game behind where they wanted to be at this point in the season. To make this a special season like in 2019, they must show they have learned from the mistakes they made in Berkeley.

Fleck is banking on that pill of accountability being the right prescription for his team.