What did Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck have to say on Monday during his weekly press conference about the Penn State Nittany Lions ahead of Saturday's game? Find out below.
What makes what makes Tyler Warren so good?
Well, I think when we talk about the, the consistency is the truest measure of performance. I think that's what you see every single week really, really good player and you know that. We got our hands, we got our hands full. Put it that way. But it's the versatility to do so many things and I think that's when you're looking at Penn State, Penn State has the ability to do a lot of different things and they do it very consistently. So it's but it's a new wrinkle every single week too. So whether it's three different quarterbacks, whether it's unique formations. They're going to give you things you've never seen before and you're going to have to stop it, and you have to be really disciplined with your eyes. You have to be really good at tackling in space. You've got to play really good up front. But that's they have weapons everywhere. But that's why you're the 4th ranked team in the country and you're you're really, really good and you got people everywhere that can make plays, and what make them whole, like, really difficult to defend is they just rotate guys in and out. I mean, they got they they platoon the D line and when they bring in the next D line, it looks very similar to the D line that came in before that. They do that with a lot of positions. So, but it's the consistency of how they play. It's the creativity that they play with. But then it's the ability to to give you things you've never seen before and make you do in in-game adjustments more than probably any other team.
His thoughts on Drew Allar
I think it's just his growth over the years you've been able to watch him in different games, you know, I mean, the fun thing about when you film studies, you cross over so much with everybody who plays each other, and especially in the new league, he's really, really poised in the pocket. He's big, strong, got a good arm, and understands the system. He can run. That's the one thing that, you know, they've got three quarterbacks, one a high school quarterback, that's really a tight end who's just to do it all for them. They got another quarterback who can throw it and run it really, really well, and then Drew can do the exact same thing, but they all have different skill sets and they use him in very different ways, but he's really accurate. He's big, he's strong, he's physical. I think he processes at a higher level than he ever has. I think that's a critical characteristic of being an elite quarterback, is how you process, how you get through your reads, how you get to the decisions, how quickly you do that. I think even last night's NFL game showed a lot of that. Uh. You know from Herbert if you were watching some of that game and we get a chance to watch some of that in the background and how fast things were happening, meaning he's open the balls on him, the distance between somebody being open, the ball being to him that that's a measure of quarterback knowing what he's doing and I think that he has that trait. You could tell he's coachable and the the team rallies around him
On the importance of Minnesota QB Max Brosmer being able to process quickly against Penn State
Not only windows are going to get tighter, the pressure is going to be on them a little bit quicker. They're playing, you know, 9-10 guys on their defensive line and it's not this. I don't mean this in a bad way, meaning that they're all the same, but you can't tell what platoon group is in because they all are good and they all have special traits. It's not just about #11 and #15 or the guys inside. It's not about just all of them. It's about. It's about how they can rotate. Guys in you know this is one of the healthiest defenses we played. You look talk to the top to bottom. You look in that little injury box that we get at the beginning of the week and there's not many of them, but they're not playing, you know, 75 snaps a game. They're rotating and platooning and they're not missing a beat when they're platooning these guys in. Very, very aggressive, very good tacklers. You could talk about how athletic they are and how good of a recruiting job James has done over his tenure and he is very consistent in what he does. But what I love about watching his groups are they're really good at the small things. Yes, they have a ton of talent, but can you get that ton of talent to do the little things really well, the blocking the tackling, the way they tackle the situational football piece, understanding all that and they do a really good job of that. So that's a direct reflection of their coaching staff and James and what he's always got his got his group. To be able to do. But yeah, I mean we've got to play really, really good sound football which we have throughout the year, we just gotta put it all together in all three areas for four quarters that that that's going to be critical for us. I don't think that's hard for anybody to understand. I know that we're going. To. Get their best shot is a top-four team fighting for a top-four spot in the College Football Playoff and a Big 10 championship. Like they're fighting for that. So we're going to get their best shot. We've got to play our best football the year. That's simple.
On what Minnesota can take away from their win over Penn State in 2019
Well, it happened. You can take that it happened. You know, I think that when you talk about somebody trusting what you're doing and how you're doing it, you need time, consistency improve. You know, the win in 2019, they were ranked 4th in the country. But that has nothing to do with the 2024 season. It really doesn't, Randy. I mean, the things we take from it is a lot of them weren't even here. Some of them didn't even know that. Right, because there's somewhere else four years ago and so much has happened in their lives. But what you can do is you can pull from really, really, really big games of what playmakers have done and I think that's always critical is we need our best playmakers to play their best. Penn State is going to need their playmakers. To be their best, that's what happens in November football and when you can show your own playmakers over the years making plays in huge games, huge moments in November, you want to be able to show them that and we spent time doing that a little bit. Yesterday, but then we took from it what we needed to take from it and moved on and since then, you know, we've shoot. That's what five years ago done a lot in the program since then. So you know, but it's going to be one game season, it's going to be 60 minutes. We got to be at our best period.
How important will the atmosphere be for Saturday's game?
Yeah. I mean, I love our atmosphere in November here at Huntington Bank Stadium, the bank's going to be rocking. I know that this is a team we're playing that you know, and they playing white outs at home and you know, they're they have 107,000 people at home games, something like that. But we have to create an environment. That's that's like that. But the opposite side for them and you know, they played in hostile environments. We played in hostile environments, but we need our fans to be where everybody should be on Saturday afternoon and that's here at Huntington Bank Stadium. I mean, what a great environment with #14 coming into the country, the Gophers being eligible and already fighting for, for placements in that. It's supposed to be a beautiful day. Little crisp bite in the air. I think it'll be a wonderful environment for people come out and I think our our fan support is absolutely critical in this game and how exciting it is to be able to have that type of environment and that type of game. I know both teams aren't undefeated like 19, but it's it's going to have that type of feel. You know, once we get in that stadium and. I know our fans will be there and they've done a great job all year. Our fans have. Been amazing all year and this is the last one coming out and supporting our seniors. That's going to be really, really important. The last time a lot of our fans at home get to watch some of the best players that ever play. Here and I think that's really, really important for our fans to know and and support. It's not just coming to that game with Penn State, it's it's really showing those seniors the support that they need and the appreciation that we've all had, not just fans, but coaches for all the work that they put in and over the last four years of making Minnesota. What it is? So I can't wait to see all of them there, that's for sure.
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