Bye week a chance for Gophers to reset before Big Ten play

When we last saw the Gophers football team, it was leaving the field at California Memorial Stadium on Sept. 13 after a 27-14 loss to Cal in which Minnesota was outscored 17-0 in the final 15:20 to suffer its first defeat.

Mistakes and missed opportunities piled up to deny the Gophers a 3-0 start and a valuable win as they transition into Big Ten play. They take on Rutgers on Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium, and it’s a chance for the Gophers to show they have learned the hard lessons from Berkeley.

“I do think this team hates losing,” coach P.J. Fleck told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Monday. “… You want to see that as a team. That was a very silent bus ride to the airport, that was a very silent airplane ride back to the Twin Cities. We had a lot of reflection. We had to do a lot of soul-searching."

With that in mind, here are four other takeaways from Fleck’s news conference and other appearances Monday:

Fleck has a goal of being 1-0 during every week of the season, which is his way of trying to keep the focus on the task at hand. He even assigns a win or a loss to bye weeks based on how the team practiced.

“We were 1-0 in the bye week,” Fleck said. “We used it perfectly. Whether that’s fundamentals, details, techniques, reflection, self-scouting and working Minnesota on Minnesota.”

Those of the cynical nature might argue that since Cal lost 34-0 at San Diego State last weekend, the Gophers took another L of sorts. Fleck’s point, though, was about response, and he believes he has received it.

Taylor, the team’s leading rusher, missed the Cal game because of an injury to his right hamstring suffered Sept. 6 against Northwestern State. The Gophers felt his absence, rushing for 137 yards on 30 carries (3.5 yards per carry) and having only four receptions for 7 yards come from their running backs at Cal.

In addition, No. 2 back A.J. Turner left the game and did not return because of a leg injury.

Asked which running backs he will be counting on Saturday, Fleck responded: “We’ll have plenty of running backs on Saturday. The injury report will come out two hours before kickoff.”

Later during an interview on KFAN-FM, Fleck said Taylor “is doing really, really well.”

Sophomore safety Koi Perich endured a tough game at Cal, especially as a returner. Perich made a fair catch of a first-quarter punt at the 3-yard line rather than let it bounce into the end zone. In the fourth quarter, he muffed a punt that the Golden Bears recovered at the Gophers 8 and cashed in for a 24-14 lead.

“Everybody, not just Koi, but everybody wanted to go make a play because it was a really tight game,” Fleck said. “… There was a lot of learning and growth from that, and sometimes it has to go against you for you to learn the biggest lessons."

When the Gophers played Rutgers last year, the prevalent story line entering the game was former Minnesota quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, the Scarlet Knights starter, facing the Gophers for the first time. Fleck and his players avoided focusing on that narrative, mainly not talking about Kaliakmanis.

On Monday, Fleck kept it businesslike but still praised Kaliakmanis, who has completed 86 of 125 passes (68.6%) for 1,150 yards and seven touchdowns with one interception.