P.J. Fleck really wants Gophers-Badgers to happen this season
After two consecutive games were canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak, the Gopher football team is schedule to wrap up the regular season this Saturday against Nebraska, but head coach P.J. Fleck is lobbying to have the canceled border battle contest between Minnesota and Wisconsin rescheduled.
“Wisconsin-Minnesota is one of the greatest rivalries in all of college football,” Fleck said during his Monday press conference. “We would love to play that game, and I think Wisconsin would say the exact same thing."
Fleck said both teams are lobbying to have the game played next week, which was initially designed to serve as the Big Ten Championship Game between the East and West division winners.
“I hope that all works out. Nobody knows what’s going to happen," Fleck said. "Why not? I know that the University of Minnesota, I know that that our student-athletes want to continue to uphold that famous rivalry and tradition. That's what it's all about. That's exciting, that's the fun part about this. I'm sure Wisconsin feels the same way."
Fleck said there have been numerous conversations about the next couple of weeks, though any decision about allowing the game would have to come from the top of the Big Ten.
"I'm here to say that it's been an interesting year, to say the least, that who knows what that last week looks like and if it hasn't been scheduled, then why not?" he said. "It would be great to continue that streak of one of the greatest rivalries in college football."
If the game isn't made up, it'll mark the first year since 1906 that Minnesota and Wisconsin haven't faced each other.
Lates forecast from Novak Weather
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.