P.J. Fleck on late game decision vs USC
Minnesota head coach says going for it on 4th down late was essential in beating the Trojans.
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00:00Listen, I know you've turned the page.
00:01I know you're focused on UCLA,
00:03but I've got to get you to go back to USC for one minute.
00:06When you look at that fourth and goal
00:07from the one in the final minute,
00:09you could have kicked a field goal.
00:10Instead, you go for it and you score a TD.
00:12It was so close, PJ, that it had to be reviewed.
00:15Can you take me through the thought process?
00:17Why did you decide to go for it and not kick it?
00:20That's a great question.
00:21I mean, you've been answering that question
00:22pretty much all week,
00:23and it was a pretty simple call when it's all said and done.
00:26If you peel back the onion a little bit,
00:28we got three takeaways on defense,
00:30but they pretty much went down the field for 380 yards
00:33in every single one of their possessions.
00:34We had to limit possessions.
00:36And when you look at it, we weren't stopping them,
00:38but we were creating some takeaways.
00:40And I figured with a minute left with no timeouts,
00:42USC is one of the most explosive teams in the country.
00:45If they marched down the field,
00:46they only got to go 70 yards in a minute.
00:48They're one of the best two-minute teams in the country
00:50with one of the best passers,
00:52one of the best core wide receivers out there.
00:55And if we don't get the four down,
00:59then they got to go at least 70 yards
01:00to be in field goal range.
01:01So it was worth it to me.
01:03If we kick the field goal, that's fine,
01:04but they're probably going to get the ball in the minus 25,
01:06where they only got to go 50 yards to be in field goal range,
01:08maybe less with Michael Lance.
01:10So to me, it's not very often you got a quarter of a yard
01:15to beat the number 11 team in the country
01:16at the University of Minnesota
01:17in front of a sellout crowd, a stripe out,
01:20our third this year.
01:22So you had to do it.
01:24And it wasn't a very hard call.
01:25Had to be done, and our guys executed it well.