P.J. Fleck: Michigan 'one of the deepest' teams Minnesota has faced in his tenure, Jim Harbaugh 'one of the best coaches in football, period'

No. 2 Michigan Wolverines football will hit the road for the second straight week, this time for a matchup with 3-2 Minnesota in Minneapolis. Golden Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck just guided his team to a bounce-back win over Louisiana (35-24), after losses to North Carolina (31-13) and Northwestern (37-34 in overtime). Perhaps the biggest challenge of the season awaits Saturday, though.

Fleck is 0-2 against Michigan during his tenure in Minnesota, which began in 2017, with losses his first year and in 2020. The Wolverines are two-time defending Big Ten champions and off to a 5-0 start this season. It’s hard for Fleck to compare the Wolverine teams he’s faced, but he recognizes that this group is one of the nation’s elite.

“They’re really good,” Fleck said with a laugh. “When you go back and, what is the best, which isn’t the best? We’ve played some really good teams since we’ve been here. I would say this is probably one of the best. … I think they’re one of the deepest, for sure. It doesn’t matter who is in that football game, it just seems like they’re always fresh because they have so many great players. They do such a great job of rotating them, and they all make plays. 

“[Michigan head] Coach [Jim] Harbaugh does a great job of promoting team, team, team, team — the ‘wefense.’ I love that. I love that when he called it the ‘wefense.’ But it’s true. When you watch their team, they all talk about the team, they all play for the team. Sometimes you can’t tell who’s in the game or who just made that play because just one guy isn’t the star — they’re all the stars that make up their team, and that’s hard to do. It’s hard to create.

“I think he’s done a great job of creating one of the best teams in the country, and they’re ranked exactly where they probably should be. Either one or two, because they are as good as advertised.”

Michigan’s depth has been especially apparent on the defensive outfit led by coordinator Jesse Minter that ranks No. 1 in the sport in scoring defense. The Wolverines have given up just 3 touchdowns and 3 field goals on the season.

“Their defense has seven of the 11 returning starters from last year,” Fleck pointed out. “And not only that, it’s not a freshman sitting behind them, it’s another transfer or it’s another senior or another graduate. These guys are good. And he’s done a heck of a job building that thing, especially with the way college football’s changed and done a very good job and he’s one of the best in the business at building teams. I got a ton of respect for him. One of the best coaches in football — period.”

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Under Fleck, Minnesota’s strength has been running the football. The Golden Gophers have taken a step back in that area so far this season but still rank 33rd in the country with 193.2 rushing yards per contest. Freshman running back Darius Taylor has already racked up 532 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns this season, averaging 6.1 yards per carry. He missed last week’s game against Louisiana with an injury, so the Gophers went with a by-committee approach and still ran for 201 yards and 3 scores.

Michigan’s rush defense has been stellar, checking in 14th nationally by allowing only 85.2 yards per game.

“You find a way to put 13 guys on the field when nobody’s looking, see if you can add another tight end in there,” Fleck joked of how to run against Michigan. “But they’re really good.

“What we’re doing right now is putting together the best game plan to put our players in the best position to be successful. You go back to 2019, we’re playing a top-four team in the country [Penn State]. Not many people gave us a shot on that either [before they won 31-26]. I know we’re different, maybe a different team as it’s a different year and things like that. But I don’t think we were favored in that one or the Auburn game [a 31-24 Minnesota win], and that’s the same Auburn team that went out and beat Alabama.

“We have respect for everybody that we play, but we’re going to prepare, too. That’s why you play the game.”

The Minnesota coach added: “Michigan has a very good interior. They’ve got great ends and they rotate 10 to 12 guys, and they’re all really good players. But that’s why you game plan, put some stuff together. So we got a ton of respect for the run defense and we got to find some ways to be able to do it, because if you don’t do it, you’re not gonna be on the field very long.”

Michigan and Minnesota will do battle under the lights Saturday night, with kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. CT.