P.J. Fleck didn’t spend Monday trying to dress up what happened at Indiana. The Gophers had a road win over the No. 4 team in the country within reach, then watched it slip away in the final seconds and overtime, falling 23-16 in a game that could have changed the feel around Minnesota’s season.
“Sports are not kind. They’re worth it, sports are amazing, sports are elite, sports teach you so much about life but they are not kind,” Fleck said Monday.
“The mentality is what’s next, who’s next, that’s it. They made one more play than us.”
That one more play came after Minnesota had already put itself in position to steal something huge. The Gophers led 16-13 with 19 seconds left at Memorial Stadium, and Luke Drzewiecki drilled a 60-yard field goal that looked like it might be the play everyone remembered. He had already been the difference in a 13-10 win over Iowa, and this one from 60 gave Minnesota a three-point edge with almost no time left.
Then Indiana answered.
The Hoosiers connected on a long pass to Charlie Becker, setting up Paddy McAteer to hit a 60-yard field goal of his own and force overtime. Becker then scored on Indiana’s first play in the extra period. Minnesota still had a chance, getting to the Indiana 4-yard line, but Drake Lindsey was sacked on fourth down to end it.
“Just think about how that last 24 seconds unfolded, just in college football how rare that is. You see it in the NFL.
When you’ve got kickers that can kick it from 60 yards and make it, they both make one from 60 within a matter of 24 seconds, you gotta take your cap off to them," Fleck said. "There’s a reason I kicked it, I believe in him 100%.
That’s the reason we brought him here.”
The loss left Minnesota at 5-3 and wiped out a chance at what would have been one of the biggest wins of Fleck’s tenure, right up there with the Gophers’ 2019 victory over a then top-10 Penn State team on the way to an 11-2 season.
Instead, Minnesota turns to No. 5 UCLA, which visits on Saturday.
Lindsey’s season remains one of the bigger questions around the team. He came into the year with first-round NFL Draft buzz for 2027, but the production hasn’t matched the preseason talk. He’s averaging 265 passing yards per game, still hasn’t thrown for 300 yards in a game this season, and has 10 touchdowns against six interceptions.
Fleck said the issues go beyond one player, pointing to the whole operation around the quarterback.
“It takes everybody, it’s not one player. The trust in the pocket, standing in the pocket, trusting your fundamentals, trusting your reads, trusting the people in front of you," Fleck said.
"It just needs to be better. You’ve got to be able to stand in the pocket and deliver.”
In Other News...
Vikings Just Sent A Clear Trade Deadline Signal To Fans
With the NFL trade deadline approaching, the Vikings created some breathing room on their roster by moving on from a pair of depth pieces and leaving themselves a little more flexibility for whatever comes next. Minnesota waived guard Trevor Keegan and released tight end Bryson Nesbit from the practice squad, a pair of transactions that opened spots as the team continues to sort through its options.
General manager Nolan Teasley has not added anyone yet, but the timing is hard to miss with Minnesota preparing for a matchup against the Buffalo Bills and still evaluating the depth chart. Even if no deal follows right away, the roster maneuvering suggests the Vikings are keeping the door open for a deadline move if the right opportunity presents itself. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Suddenly Have A Jake Golday Decision They Can't Ignore
The Vikings run defense has hit a rough patch at exactly the wrong time, giving up 384 rushing yards over the last two games while the missed tackles have piled up. With more physical rushing attacks on the schedule, the issue is no longer just about scheme or effort. It is becoming a personnel question, and that has put rookie linebacker Jake Golday into the conversation as a possible way to steady things.
Golday has barely been used on defense this season, but he has earned trust on special teams and has shown the kind of tackling reliability Minnesota could use more of right now. The Vikings do not need to overhaul everything to get better against the run, but they do need to find answers quickly, and giving Golday a larger defensive role is the kind of adjustment that could make sense before the next wave of tough opponents arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Suddenly Have A Kirk Cousins Decision Fans Cant Ignore
Kirk Cousins has already become part of the conversation in Las Vegas this season, not just because of what he can still do on the field, but because of the role he is playing behind the scenes. The veteran quarterback is mentoring Fernando Mendoza for the Raiders, and after the team finally got back in the win column against the Jets, his presence has only looked more valuable to a club trying to steady itself during the 2026 season.
For Minnesota fans, the timing is hard to miss. A Vikings loss has reopened the quarterback chatter around the league, with Kyler Murray's future drawing speculation and Cousins naturally surfacing as a name to watch, but the Raiders do not appear eager to make that kind of move. The bigger question now is whether Las Vegas would even consider disrupting a locker room that is leaning on Cousins in more ways than one. [Read more 🡒]