Coach P.J. Fleck faced a key fourth-down decision late in Saturday's 20-13 victory at Nebraska and was asked about it in the postgame news conference.
"Which decision? The decision to punt then go for it, then punt, then go for it, then punt again?'' Fleck said, laughing. "Oh, my goodness.''
Here's what transpired:
With the Gophers facing third-and-7 from their 41 with 3:12 left in the fourth quarter and Nebraska out of timeouts, running back Mohamed Ibrahim appeared to salt the game away with a 7-yard gain on third-and-7. A video review of the spot, however, interestingly ruled that Ibrahim was about a half-yard short, leaving the Gophers at their 47 with 2:32 to play.
Fleck originally sent out the punt team, but Ibrahim implored his coach to go for it.
"I was ready to punt. All signs say to punt. Then there's this guy about this tall,'' Fleck said, lifting his hand to the 5-foot-10 level, "who comes off the field saying, 'We're going for it! I got it!' That's Mohamed. Then we're going for it. How am I going to not listen to Mo?
"As we're on the headset, there are two plays we want,'' Fleck continued. "… Half our staff wants one play, half likes the other, and they just keep going back and forth. … Because we didn't have a decisive decision, at some point … I just have to make that call. Besides Mohamed Ibrahim and [center] John Michael Schmitz, who did a death stare at me, there wasn't one call where everyone was like, 'This is it.' ''
Fleck decided to punt, reasoning that it would be more difficult for Nebraska to go 90 yards in less that 2:30 that it would be for the Huskers to march 46 yards if the Gophers didn't get the first down.
