Time for Pat Fitzgerald's segment on the weekly Big Ten Teleconference:
- Fitz on the Coaches Poll: "Whatever's right for the game, I'm in favor of." So, basically, he's abstaining from that issue. He did say the coaches he knows who vote take it very seriously.
- On Venric Mark's injury: "I don't want to speak to how hard it's been for him. From the conversations I've had with him, it's been very difficult... He's got so much passion and he wants to play so bad, it's gotta be eating at him, but it hasn't changed his attitude."
- Fitz said the biggest things that stand out about Minnesota are the Gophers' line play, the involvement of the quarterbacks in the run game and the experienced secondary.
- On the team's mindset and a roller coaster start: "I don't know that it's been a roller coaster start to the year, I just know that we didn't play very well a week ago." The mindset is week-to-week, and Fitz said that if today at practice was any indication, they'll be just fine.
- On Matt Harris' recruitment: "We knew about Matthew early on in the process." The coaches had to figure out what position they wanted him at, since he also made an impact on offense. Fitz said he knew by Harris' senior year that he would be an "instant impact guy."
- On Ibraheim Campbell: "At the highs, it's been really spectacular. He still has a lot of things that he needs to work on, and he knows that."
- Fitz reiterated that there was no indication of a letdown. "Something happened in the 20 minutes in the locker room that we haven't seen in a long time around here."