P.J. Fleck on onside kick penalty: ‘We’re not going to blame, complain, deflect’

Fleck: Gophers moving on from onside kick penalty

P.J. Fleck said on his FOX 9 show Tuesday that the Gophers won't place blame, complain or deflect from an incorrect offside call that negated an onside kick recovery at Michigan.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - P.J. Fleck held his weekly news conference on Monday, and did his radio and TV show on Tuesday following the Gophers’ 27-24 loss at Michigan.

All anyone wants to talk about is the successful onside kick recovery that was wiped away incorrectly by an offside penalty. The Gophers had just scored, Max Brosmer hitting Daniel Jackson for an incredible touchdown, to get Minnesota within 27-24. The Gophers had to do an onside kick, and Matt Kingsbury successful recovered it at the Michigan 37-yard line with 1:37 to play.

One problem – Kingsbury was flagged for being offside, across the 35-yard line, when Dragan Kesich’s foot made contact with the ball. A slow-motion replay on the FOX broadcast clearly shows Kingsbury is onside. It should’ve been Minnesota’s ball with a chance to send the game to overtime, or even pull a stunning upset.

On Tuesday's P.J. Fleck Show on FOX 9, Pierre Noujaim wanted to ask Coach Fleck about the play. The panel wanted to talk about his weekend proposal and engagement. They eventually did talk about the penalty.

"First and foremost, I’ve always taken that stance that we’re not going to BCD – blame, complain and deflect. We’re going to take accountability for how we played in 60 minutes, that’s what you measure," Fleck said on the FOX 9 P.J. Fleck Show. "In our opinion, that game should never have come down to that last play."

The conversation

Fleck and Athletic Director Mark Coyle met with the Big Ten via conference call on Monday for an hour about the play. The conference did not admit the wrong call was made, but is making changes going forward to ensure the right call is made going forward in that situation.

Effective immediately, the NCAA approved a change to have the line judge and head line judge at the kicking team’s restraining line. The old way was to have the linesmen at the receiving team’s lie.

"I give the Big Ten a lot of credit for taking the hour conversation that we had with Athletic Director (Mark) Coyle, the commissioner of the Big Ten, head of officials and actually getting changes made immediately," Fleck said. "Would’ve loved to see what would’ve happened after that, but you’ve got to play better."