P.J. Fleck clears the air on 'extremely intense' interaction with official in Minnesota-USC game

Fleck claims he wasn't angry. In fact, he says he was telling the official how much he loves him.

P.J. Fleck passionately yelling at an official during Minnesota's win over USC. / Big Ten Network

Minnesota Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck went viral on Saturday when he appeared to lose his cool on an official late in the game against USC, but it turns out that Fleck's intense moment was just him professing his love for the official.

What moment are we talking about? The one his wife, Heather Fleck, told him was "extremely intense." You know, the one where he appeared to lose his mind in an official's face.

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"I do want to clear up one thing. There' s a meme of me out there — that Heather made it very clear to send, to show me, and so did the players — of me and the official's face having a conversation. You do have to know this though, the story behind that, so I get to control the narrative. If you slow it down and read my lips, it exactly matches this. He came over before [the replay at the end of the game] was done and said, 'Hey, P.J., it's a touchdown.' And I went, 'What?' I said, 'say it again.' He goes, 'It's a touchdown, did you not hear me?' I said, 'No, no no, I just want you to say it one more time.' He said, 'It's a touchdown.' And if you read my lips I say, 'I blanking love you,' and then I left."

Fleck went out of his way during his weekly radio show Tuesday to make sure the truth about the moment was revealed to the world. The wild moment was caught on Big Ten Network cameras while the replay crew in Chicago was about to overturn the ruling on the field that Max Brosmer was stopped short of the end zone on fourth-and-goal from inside the 1-yard line with 57 seconds left in the game.

"I told him I blanking love him because it was the first person I saw when I was told it was a touchdown, and if you see me I run to our players and let them know. I had info before everybody else in the stadium had the information and I didn't know what to do with it and I wanted to make sure I heard him correctly so I made him say it three times," Fleck continued. "I've known that official for a long time. He looks confused as hell. 'Why do you want me to keep telling you this?' Because I want to hear it another time to make sure it's right."

The touchdown was Brosmer's third of the game and it lifted Minnesota to a 24-17 win over the 11th-ranked team in the country.

"I want to make sure we clear the air on that," Fleck concluded.