LAS VEGAS -- Since going 11-2 and finishing No. 10 nationally in 2019, Minnesota has been a consistent bowl team -- and champion -- but hasn't legitimately challenged for the College Football Playoff.
Coach P.J. Fleck thinks that's about to change.
The Gophers are coming off an 8-5 season in which four losses came by seven points or fewer, including a 26-25 home setback to Penn State, who went on to reach the Big Ten championship game and the CFP semifinals. In 2019, Minnesota won each of its first four games by seven points or fewer and finished 6-1 in one-score games.
"If we were 6-1 in the seven one-possession games [in 2024], we would have won 11 games," Fleck told ESPN on Wednesday. "We're not far. We're right there. This isn't a pipe dream."
The 12-team CFP has created more opportunities for teams like Minnesota, which hasn't won a Big Ten championship since 1967. That season, it shared the title with Indiana, which made a historic run to the CFP last fall.
"We're not as far off as maybe what our brand and logo and name think we are, what people perceive that as," Fleck said. "The reason you stay at a program is to change people's thoughts, perceptions and ideas of the brand you're in. That's why you stay."
Earlier this month, Fleck and Minnesota agreed to a contract extension through the 2030 season, which includes annual retention bonuses beginning at $1 million and increasing each year. Fleck, 44, is 56-39 as Minnesota's coach with a 6-0 mark in bowls.
"Eight years is a long time, but it's not an eternity," he said. "We've still got a lot of years in this thing, and that's why we signed a new contract in year nine, is to make sure that we get to be able to see that as we keep moving forward."