P.J. Fleck climbed the steps leading up to the podium and drilled a can of Coca-Cola, one of the sponsors of the University of Minnesota.

His football team Gophers had just lost the biggest game of the season, at home, but when you're the type of guy who makes his own motivational phrase, it's never a good time to practice product placement .

Coca-Cola will likely survive its affiliation with the University of Minnesota's football program. "Row The Boat" can not.

The Gophers concluded their home schedule for the 2018 season on Saturday, bowing 24-14 northwest at TCF Bank Stadium, where a small crowd arrived late and left early.

The Gophers will then travel to Wisconsin for their season finale. They need a win to guarantee a .500 record and eligibility for the cup. With his second season in Minnesota almost over, Fleck is 10-13 overall and 4-13 in the Big Ten.

The most important record is his mark of 2-6 at the Big Ten this season. His team has not improved in two years, even in a mediocre league.

Another loss did not diminish Fleck's ability to dazzle an audience with inanities. In his opening statement after the match, Fleck said about Northwestern: "They beat teams like that. Iceman of 'Top Gun' for all who know it. Cool like ice cream. Never make mistakes. ''

Most of Fleck's speeches target 18-year-olds who may be impressed by such foolishness. Iceman of 'Top Gun'? I may be one of the few people in the room old enough to know what he was talking about, but I did not know what he was talking about at all. He might as well have compared Northwestern to Gatsby, or Shemp.

Playing at home against a good team badly wounded by injuries, the Gophers not only played badly, but they did not entertain either. Beat bad teams is an art. Northwestern brought the right brush. The Wildcats avoided turnovers, kept things simple and waited for the Gophers to make mistakes, which they did.

"A very professional championship approach has resulted in a very professional win," said North West coach Pat Fitzgerald.

The Gophers made very few big games in offense against a defense with a secondary goal exhausted and their defense did not create any turnaround.

The Gophers should have been at their best in this game. They should have played at an emotional high. Last home game. Senior Day. A chance to pick up a bowl berth. A chance to give life to Fleck slogans.

Instead, they seemed mediocre and uninspired, even though junior catcher Tyler Johnson and linebacker Blake Cashman, two Minnesota natives recruited by Fleck's predecessors, played the role of a star.

Fleck compared his program to Fitzgerald's, saying the difference was "cultural sustainability," noting that Fitzgerald had played at Northwestern and worked as an assistant coach before becoming a head coach.

But would not it be an argument for Minnesota to maintain Tracy Claeys, a great defense coordinator for the Gophers, instead of hiring someone who has no connection to the school?

Then Fleck told a story. While he was training in northern Illinois, he asked Fitzgerald to bring him lunch, during which Fitzgerald had told him that the former Northwestern head coach and his Mentor, Randy Walker, had told him, "We will not apologize anymore." & # 39; & # 39;

But all that Fleck says is like an excuse. Like those of Saturday: "Time is your best friend but it is also your enemy. … The culture is under construction. … failure is growth. … We are getting closer. ''

Fleck has resumed a program that has won nine games in 2016 and has appeared in five consecutive bowls, the last two won.

If Fleck loses to Wisconsin, he will continue to distract with brilliant slogans, but any rational evaluation of him should conclude that the first two years of the Fleck experience have been embarrassing.