Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck passionately lobbies for 'GameDay' to come for Penn State game
Minnesota remains undefeated after its Week 9 win over Maryland on Saturday, and now the Golden Gophers have a bye before playing Penn State in Week 11.
But coach P.J. Fleck wasted no time in lobbying for ESPN’s College GameDay to show up to Minneapolis that Saturday because he knows the crew could easily opt to go to another high-profile game that week with Alabama hosting LSU, two other undefeated teams.
In his postgame press conference after Minnesota’s 52-10 win over Maryland, Fleck made a pretty compelling argument that managed to compliment the Crimson Tide and Tigers while pushing for ESPN to choose the Big Ten game instead.
He passionately explained:
“I really hope College GameDay looks at our Twin City, our university, truly, to bring GameDay here. We have four million people that live in the Twin City area. We are the only Division I school in the state of Minnesota. Everybody here is Gophers. We have never hosted College GameDay.
“All due respect to Alabama and LSU, I have no idea what’s going on with them right now, but I can tell you this, you can go to them any year! Pick a year! Pick a game! You can go to them every game of the season if you would like. College GameDay is about unique stories, about unique places, about unique moments. That’s what they say they’re about.”
Fleck went on to talk about his past experiences with GameDay showing up for previous games he coached in, arguing that it was mutually beneficial for the broadcast as well as schools that might not normally have an opportunity to host the Saturday morning show.
Double-checking to make sure Penn State is still undefeated after this week — the Nittany Lions crushed Michigan State and are 8-0, like Minnesota — he continued to explain why he believes ESPN should pick Minneapolis over Tuscaloosa in a couple weeks.
Fleck said:
“If I can tell ESPN, believe me, to trust me, you come to the Twin City area, you come to the University of Minnesota for — is Penn State undefeated? — an undefeated Penn State team, an undefeated Minnesota Golden Gopher team in this Twin City area, where the host the Super Bowl, the Final Four! Next is GameDay, naturally!
“That’s why I think they should come here, and I think our whole city would rally behind it. And if they thought they had large crowds before, wait until four million people show up.”
Minnesota football’s Twitter account is, of course, in support of this campaign as well, and shared an open letter to ESPN with an additional argument and the Golden Gophers’ resume on it.
“We’d love to have them,” Fleck said at the end. “I know our administration would love to have them. I think it would be a wonderful experience and moment for all of our players. 8-0 versus 8-0, a place they’ve never been before, a place that the Super Bowl and Final Four has been. Let’s do this.”