Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck borrowed a line from the TV show “Ted Lasso” as he prepared his team for this week’s non-conference game against Rhode Island on Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.
The message: Be a goldfish.
The Golden Gophers (0-1) are coming off a heartbreaking 19-17 loss at home against North Carolina in their season opener last week. Dragan Kesich missed two field goals, including a 47-yarder as time expired that would have won the game.
“Be a goldfish,” Fleck explained on his weekly coach’s show. “Ted Lasso talks about a guy (who) comes up to him and he’s really anxious about a play and says, ‘Sorry, coach.’ Ted Lasso looks at him and just says, ‘Be a goldfish.’
“The guy looks at him like, ‘What are you talking about?’
“(Ted Lasso says), ‘Goldfish are the happiest animals on the planet because they have a 10-second memory.'”
The Goldfish — er, Gophers — will turn their attention to Rhode Island (1-0), which is coming off a 20-17 win against Holy Cross in its season opener.
Quarterback Devin Farrell threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Shawn Harris Jr. with 19 seconds remaining to lead the Rams to the win. Farrell finished 20-for-33 for 287 yards and two touchdowns.
The game marked Farrell’s first action since he played in high school in Georgia. He started his college career at Virginia Tech, transferred to Rhode Island, and did not play last season as he backed up four-year starter Kasim Hill.
“You don’t play since high school and you come out and do what he was able to do,” Rhode Island coach Jim Fleming said. “I was very impressed.”
Minnesota also features a quarterback who made his team debut last week. Max Brosmer, a transfer from New Hampshire, is looking to build upon an up-and-down performance in which he completed 13 of 21 passes for 165 yards.
Marcus Major led the Golden Gophers’ ground attack with 20 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown. Major started in place of injured teammate Darius Taylor, whose status remains uncertain heading into Saturday.
Rhode Island will have to find a way to move the ball against a stout Minnesota defense. In the opening game, both Cody Lindenberg (11 tackles) and Maverick Baranowski (10 tackles) finished with double-digit stops.
