P.J. Fleck campaigned hard Saturday for ESPN’s “College GameDay” to make its debut trip to Minnesota when Penn State visits for an enticing matchup between undefeated and ranked programs on Nov. 9 at TCF Bank Stadium.
The Gophers head coach politicked directly into ESPN’s cameras after the network aired Minnesota’s 52-10 blowout over Maryland on Saturday. He soon ran it back for KFAN radio’s postgame show, and he turned it into a bit of a filibuster with a 3 1/2-minute pitch during his news conference.
For a fountain of energy, Fleck was as hyped in this delivery as he’s been since his introduction to Minnesota in 2017.
Fleck knows his competition is a matchup of SEC incumbents: second-ranked LSU versus No. 1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala. But he asked, why not create a first?
CC: @CollegeGameDay pic.twitter.com/2iyUxAW6fr
— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) October 27, 2019
“All due respect to Alabama and LSU … but I can tell you this, you can go to them any year! Pick a year! Pick a game!” Fleck opined. “… ‘College GameDay’ is about unique stories, about unique places, about unique moments. That is what they say they are about. …”
The show, for instance, was in Brookings, S.D., on Saturday for South Dakota State and North Dakota State and checked off another first this year when they went to Ames for Iowa State-Iowa.
“If I can tell ESPN: Believe me! Trust me! You come to the Twin City area and you come to the University of Minnesota … for an undefeated Penn State team and an undefeated Minnesota Golden Gopher team … where they host the Super Bowl, the Final Four, next is ‘GameDay,’ naturally. That is why I think they should come here. I think our whole city would rally behind it, and if they thought they had large crowds before, wait until 4 million people show up!”
Then Fleck brought up a story with “GameDay” host Rece Davis. Fleck spoke at a conference when he took over at Minnesota and quoted Davis as saying then, “ ‘I do know one thing, in the next few years, the Golden Gophers are going to be on the map because of that culture and that staff and what he does with those players.’ ”
“Well, Rece, we’re here,” Fleck continued Saturday. “It’s a perfect opportunity to do it, and it’s unique and creative. It’s not the same old, same old. No offense to Alabama and LSU. That’s pretty cool, but this I think is a unique experience that doesn’t happen very often and hasn’t happened ever” in Minnesota.
More than two minutes in, Fleck acknowledged, “I’m really lobbying here.”
Toward the end, Fleck turned to his wife, Heather, and asked, “Do you want to say please or anything?” Heather said she would hit the phone bank.
“We would love to have them,” Fleck concluded. “I know our administration would love to have them, and I think it would be a wonderful experience and moment for all of our players. 8-0 vs. 8-0. A place they have never been before. A place that the Super Bowl and Final Four have been. Let’s do this.”
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