• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Minnesota Sports Today

Minnesota Sports News Continuously Updated

  • Vikings
  • Twins
  • Basketball
    • Lynx
    • Timberwolves
  • Wild
  • Minnesota United FC
  • Colleges
    • University of Minnesota
    • University of Minnesota Duluth
    • St. Cloud

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck lobbies for ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’

October 27, 2019 by St. Paul Pioneer Press Leave a Comment

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.”

Related Articles


  • P.J. Fleck addresses his future with Gophers: ‘I absolutely love it here.’


  • Gophers extend Big Ten West lead with 52-10 blowout over Maryland


  • Rodney Smith sets Gophers’ all-purpose yardage record


  • Despite sharing load, Rodney Smith climbing Gophers’ record charts


  • Gophers walk-on football player arrested for DWI, removed from team

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.”

Filed Under: University of Minnesota

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Kirk Cousins tests positive for COVID-19
  • Jaylen Twyman set for first game action as a Viking
  • Kirk Cousins ruled out for preseason opener after testing positive for COVID-19
  • CBS Sports analyst wants Lamar Jackson to join Vikings
  • Brett Favre believes he suffered “thousands” of concussions in the NFL

Categories

  • Basketball
    • Lynx
    • Timberwolves
  • Colleges
    • St. Cloud
    • University of Minnesota
  • Minnesota United FC
  • Twins
  • Uncategorized
  • Vikings
  • Wild

Archives

Our Partners

All Sports

  • Star Tribune
  • St. Paul Pioneer Press
  • CBS Minnesota
  • Sporting Sota
  • Zone Coverage
  • 247 Sports
  • Bleacher Report
  • The Sports Daily
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today

Baseball

  • MLB.com
  • Last Word On Baseball
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Off The Baggy
  • Pucketts Pond
  • Twinkie Town
  • Twins Daily

Basketball

  • NBA.com
  • Amico Hoops
  • Canis Hoopus
  • Dunking With Wolves
  • High Post Hoops
  • Hoops Hype
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball
  • Pro Basketball Talk
  • Real GM

Football

  • Minnesota Vikings
  • Daily Norseman
  • Last Word On Pro Football
  • NFL Trade Rumors
  • Our Turf Football
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Football Talk
  • The Viking Age
  • Total Vikings
  • Vikings Wire

Hockey

  • Gone Puck Wild
  • Hockey Wilderness
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • E Pluribus Loonum
  • Last Word on Soccer
  • MLS Multiplex

College

  • Busting Brackets
  • College Football News
  • College Sports Madness
  • Gopher Hole
  • Saturday Blitz
  • The Daily Gopher
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in