Gophers football: Koi Perich must ‘swallow the pill of adversity’

BERKELEY Calif Gophers head coach P J Fleck usually begins his postgame news conferences with an encompassing opening declaration win or a loss But after Minnesota s - defeat to California on Saturday Fleck began with an open-ended question Where do you want me to begin he stated In each event Fleck uses a thick black pen to write down coaching points in a yellow notebook He had the scribble-covered pages with him at the table inside Memorial Stadium in the wee hours Saturday but he spoke extemporaneously for a limited minutes about a slew of self-inflicted issues that resulted in Minnesota ending nonconference play at - Minnesota Golden Gophers quarterback Drake Lindsey throws a pass against the California Golden Bears in the first quarter of an NCAA college football encounter in Berkeley Calif on Saturday Sept Jose Carlos Fajardo Bay Area News Group via AP Losing the turnover margin - was a big reason for the Gophers loss the second Koi Perich s muffed punt led directly to a Cal touchdown that turned a three-point divot a -point crater - midway through the fourth quarter It s not Koi s fault right It s my fault Fleck noted But it s our band s responsibility to win football games not Koi s not quarterback Drake Lindsey s and not linebacker Maverick Baranowski s We re a band and we didn t do enough on special teams offense and defense to win that football competition in every area That s what it s going to look like Now the great thing is it s all correctable That muffed punt wasn t the only play Perich will want back In the first quarter his fair catch on a punt inside the five-yard line gave the Golden Bears better field position for its opening touchdown On that ensuing TD Perich was slow to cover Jacob de Jesus out of the backfield and he caught an easy -yard scoring pass from Jaron-Keawe Sagapoluteleon In the second quarter Perich caught a -yard out highway to put Minnesota in better position to tie the battle But on a double-pass trick play Perich felt pressure as he went to throw and ate a -yard loss The Gophers punted two plays later Coming off a true freshman season that included all-Big Ten and All-America honors Perich was ballyhooed for the impact he could make on offense on top of the work he did on defense and special teams in Knee-jerk comparisons to last year s Heisman Trophy winner Colorado s Travis Hunter might have saddled him with unrealistic expectations going into his sophomore season The Esko Minn native has yet to make a similar splash through three games this season and might be too eager to make an impact in all three phases of the meeting It sometimes seems as if he s looking to hit two home runs in each at-bat and losing focus in the process All great players go through adversity Fleck declared This is perhaps his first piece of adversity in the months he s been here Adversity strengthens you if you use it properly Fleck added You swallow the pill of adversity and you take accountability and responsibility for it We all do It s going to make him better The muffed punt might be the the bulk glaring example of how the sophomore is trying to do too much because he didn t follow the coaching standard of getting away from a bouncing ball Trailing - the Gophers defense forced Cal to punt from its -yard line with eight minutes left The ball hopped inside the and was rolling at the -yard line when Perich went to grab it but it bounced off his hands and right foot Cal recovered and fast scored a TD Casual creates causalities Fleck commented After the turnover Perich put his helmet in his hands as fellow special-teams members tried to console him Postgame at least one member of the patronage staff patted him on the back as Perich slowly sipped a drink in the locker room as they rapidly packed up for a long overnight trip back to Minneapolis Lindsey is one of Perich s best friends on the unit and wouldn t put the loss solely on his shoulders That s my brother reported Lindsey who threw one touchdown pass and one interception It s something that we ve got to talk about and make sure everybody is aligned on We can t be casual all across the board It started with me we were casual Saturday I ve got to be a better leader and get us in the right type of spots Minnesota linebacker Maverick Baranowski and defensive back Darius Green converge on Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele in the first half of the Gophers late match Saturday Sept in Berkeley Calif Gophers Athletics Related Articles Miscues doom Gophers in - loss to California Gophers tailback Darius Taylor ruled out for Cal battle Frederick With a perfect - season Gophers can make college playoff Gophers football has a fun road schedule Could Ireland be next Gophers football P J Fleck shares one of his dying wishes