Five takeaways from P.J. Fleck’s news conference: Gophers are slow starters

Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck appreciates his team’s resilience. After all, Minnesota has played two Big Ten home games this season and found ways to beat Rutgers after trailing 14-0 and Purdue after falling behind 10-0.

Still, Fleck rather would see his team not need to live life on a tightrope.

“We’re spotting somebody points before you even get started and get into your rhythms,” he said during his weekly news conference Monday. “We’ve got to start faster.”

The Gophers will try to do just that Friday night against No. 25 Nebraska at Huntington Bank Stadium. The Cornhuskers enter the game with a 5-1 record and a 2-1 Big Ten mark built on strong finishes. Nebraska is averaging 41.0 points per game, and Fleck knows that his team, which is scoring 27.3 per game, will be on the bad end of a mathematical equation if it continues to stumble from the gate.

“We teach them that constantly — start fast, accelerate in the middle and finish strong,“ Fleck said. “Just because you teach it doesn’t mean you’re actually going to get it. You’ve got to find a better way of teaching it, and then our players have to do a better job absorbing that and going out there and executing, but I see improvement.”

Here are four other takeaways from Fleck’s media availabilities Monday:

Special teams play has been a work in progress for the Gophers this season, but Saturday, their specialists had a good night in the 27-20 victory over Purdue.

Punter Tom Weston averaged 46.4 yards on his seven punts, having one fair caught at the Boilermakers 14-yard line.

“We were locked in on special teams,” Fleck said. “We made huge punts at critical moments; Tom did a good job with that. … And we were able to be consistent in the field-goal game, and that helped us. We made our two field goals. They missed one."

The Gophers safety duo of Kerry Brown and Koi Perich each had an interception — Brown’s pick ending a Purdue scoring threat at the Minnesota 1 and Perich’s pick-six providing the winning points. Fleck had praise for another member of the secondary, sixth-year player Jai’Onte’ McMillan.

After the Gophers took a 27-20 lead on Perich’s 27-yard interception return for a TD with 7:40 left in the fourth quarter, Purdue drove to the Gophers 7 and faced fourth-and-goal with two minutes left. Quarterback Ryan Browne fired a pass to Michael Jackson III at the goal line, but McMillan, a transfer from TCU, knocked the ball away from Jackson, ending the Boilermakers’ last good threat.

“He is a selfless player,” Fleck said. “He can play nickel, he can play the dime, he can play safety. He’s very versatile. He’s played a lot of football in his career, so I’m just really proud of the selfless teammate that he is.’’

“He’s a wonderful football coach, but a really good person,” Fleck said of Rhule. “We’re so competitive when you get to the season, but out of season, you see everybody for who they are, as people.”

Fleck said Rhule came to him with the idea to use Friday’s game to promote breast cancer awareness.

“There’s probably not a person that hasn’t been affected by it somehow, some way,” Fleck said.

The Gophers and Nebraska have one fewer day to prepare this week because the game will be played Friday rather than Saturday for TV broadcast purposes.