Gophers coach Fleck reviews win over Maryland, looks ahead to Northwestern

The Minnesota Gophers (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) take a three-game winning streak into Saturday’s matchup with the Northwestern Wildcats (3-4, 1-3 Big Ten). Kickoff from Evanston is set for 2:30 p.m.

A 7.5 point favorite, Gophers coach P.J. Fleck says that the Wildcats are the Big Ten champs until someone dethrones them.

***Click the video box above to watch Fleck’s Monday news conference***

"They’re incredibly disciplined, and this is the (2020) Big Ten West champs," Fleck told reporters Monday on campus.

Fleck added, "They’re a very disciplined team who’s incredibly deep, they are very deep. They play their tail ends off on defense and they’re really well coached. (Coach) Pat Fitzgerald has been a staple in the Big Ten and he’s a tremendous coach and a tremendous person."

"He gets the most out of his teams, and it’s a very disciplined team that doesn’t beat themselves. They fly around on defense. And offense, they execute at a high level. And we’ve got to be at our best come Saturday and we got a lot of work to do until then. We’ve only watched the film starting yesterday and today, so we got to continue to study it and come up with the best game plan we possibly can. But I have a ton of respect for them and Coach Fitzgerald and their staff."

The Gophers control their destiny in the Big Ten West. After Saturday’s game at Northwestern, the Gophers host Illinois on Nov. 6. The Big Ten announced Monday that kickoff for that game will be at 11 a.m.