WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The previous time P.J. Fleck’s defense allowed more than 300 yards rushing in a game came in his second year at Minnesota in 2018.

The head coach was still building up Minnesota when his team allowed an astounding 430 rushing yards in a 55-31 loss to Illinois that November. The next day, Fleck fired defensive coordinator Robb Smith.

On Saturday, the Gophers gave up 300 rushing yards for the first time since that Illini loss. Purdue rushed for 353 yards in a 49-30 win at Ross-Ade Stadium. The two-win Boilermakers hadn’t rushed for 200 yards in a game this season and hadn’t gone over 300 since 2018.

“Just unacceptable,” said Fleck, who is 5-5 overall and 3-4 in Big Ten play with two games left in his seventh season. “Everything starts with me. I’ll continue to say that, but I mean that because I take that very personal when I say that. That’s not the cover up. Everything starts with me. And we got to get them ready to play.”

Given his standard line of putting losses on himself, Fleck was asked questions Saturday about what he, and his team, can do better.

Q: What do you feel like were the issues in the run fits Saturday?

A: “Everything. … There’s reasons; there’s no excuses. I mean, we’re decimated right now the linebacker position (with Cody Lindenberg and Maverick Baranowski injured). We got some guys playing at that position that haven’t played college football. We got some guys who are freshmen, true freshmen. I mean, (Matt) Kingsbury played tonight as a true freshman. That’s not where we want to be. We got some depth issues.

Q: From a coaching standpoint, what are the things you’re going to look to try to improve on?

A: I’ll have to go back and look at the tape. It comes down to the coaching piece, the fundamentals, the techniques, what did we call here, what did we call there. … I’ll just leave it at that.

Q: What do you feel like systemically needs to happen to eliminate this?

A: I know the reasons and those reasons equal time. I would love to be able to sit there and waive a magic wand, but it’s time. We’ve got to get some guys back on the field and we’ve got to get healthy. Unfortunately that is the position we are in right now.

Q: Third quarter, again. Offense for a third straight week, struggles —

A: You guys — not you guys, us in general — talk about this third quarter, coming out, everybody makes adjustments. We’ve had way too many dropped passes. They just kill drives. It’s simple: dropped passes kill drives.

We had a dropped touchdown, that changed the whole complexion of the first half. We drop other balls or are a foot off. The ball is thrown a foot behind or it gets knocked down. Ball gets thrown at somebody’s feet. …

We are an inconsistent football team right now. Period. When you have an inconsistent, young football team, inexperienced football team, and then you get injuries on top of that.

I’m proud of their fight, their scratch, their claw, their how, their effort. I’m so darn proud of how hard they play. You don’t get ribbons for playing hard. Nobody cares. But that’s what I love to see because I know the reasons why the results not becoming the result. Not excuses. But I know the reasons.”

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The new owner of the former HyLife plant in Windom, Minn., is looking to resume processing pork in the facility sometime in spring 2024.

In a news release, Premium Iowa Pork, which bought the facility from HyLife for $14 million on June 2, says it is moving into the second phase of planning. For the past four months, it’s been evaluating the plant space. Premium Iowa Pork says it is now focusing on modernizing the plant.

In the statement, company President Dan Paquin said it is removing outdated equipment and infrastructure.

“As we’ve said from the very beginning, we are excited to be a part of the Windom Community and continuing to do what we’ve always done: Bring high-quality pork products to families’ tables,” Paquin said. “With that, we’re moving forward to physically improve the space to create a modern pork processing facility.”

The company has several operations in the northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota region including in Luverne, Minn. It employs more than 900 workers in Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota.

Around 1,000 workers lost their jobs when HyLife closed last summer. About half were on H-2B visas, tied to working at the plant. Many of those workers are believed to have returned home or now work elsewhere under a new H-2B visa.

About one-fifth of Windom’s population was employed at the pork processing plant, and the sudden closure raised concerns over the economic impact on the town of 5,000.

Premium Iowa Pork’s statement does not include specific rehiring plans.

“Retrofitting the facility allows us to be versatile when it comes to future pork production plans,” said Paquin. “Once the space is completely upgraded, our team will be able to make final determinations on plans for operation.”

Windom City Administrator Steve Nasby said the city anticipates the plant will be operational sometime between April and June 2024, with some possible earlier work for startup.

Nasby also reported progress on arrangements to receive state funds authorized by the Legislature before the plant closure to be applied in the event of a shutdown.

In an email Thursday, he said the city finalized its grant agreement for state appropriated funds on Oct. 3, along with executing the loan agreements for the employee housing projects already underway.

Nasby stated the city received the first draw of state funds on Nov. 3, and that “these first funds will be going to Windom Apartments LLC. to pay off contractors who have done work on the buildings and to the city for debt repayment to the Public Facilities Authority on the wastewater treatment plant.”

The city requested $14 million in aid from the state. Windom is using $13 million — about $10 million on the housing project. It allocated another $2 million to repay a loan for the municipal wastewater treatment plant.

About $1 million was used for recruitment efforts to secure a buyer for the pork processing plant, and another $1 million was given to Windom Area Schools to cover the loss of state funding for students leaving the district with their parents as a result of the plant closure.

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Hope Adebayo scored on a 16-yard run in the extra period as the University of St. Thomas survived its first overtime game in 13 seasons with a 20-14 victory over San Diego in a Pioneer Football League game Saturday in San Diego, Calif.

Adebayo, a former Simley High School star from Inver Grove Heights, finished with 85 yards rushing and two touchdowns for the Tommies (7-3, 6-1). He became the school’s first running back in the two-year Division I era to score multiple touchdowns in three consecutive games. He has scored six of his eight touchdowns this season in the past three games, leading St. Thomas to PFL victories in all three, over Stetson, Marist and San Diego.

Johnson Fallah and Grif Wurtz had two interceptions apiece, and Jack Mohler had nine tackles for St. Thomas.

The Tommies’ last overtime game was during the 2010 season when they beat former MIAC rival St. John’s 27-26.

Bethel 31, Gustavus Adolphus 7

The Royals (8-2) clinched their sixth league title and first since 2013 by routing the Gusties (6-4) in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship game at Royal Stadium in Arden Hills, Minn. Aaron Ellingson rushed for a career-high 224 yards and three touchdowns to lead Bethel, and the defense intercepted four passes and got 10 tackles from Matt Jung.

The Royals clinched the MIAC’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division III playoffs, which begin next weekend. The full tournament field will be announced on Sunday afternoon.

St. John’s 48, Concordia (Moorhead) 21

Aaron Syverson was 35 of 51 passing for 440 yards and five touchdowns as the Johnnies (8-2) wrapped up their regular season with an MIAC Week victory over the Cobbers (5-5) in Moorhead, Minn. St. John’s will learn its Division III playoff fate on Sunday. The Johnnies are expected to receive a spot in the postseason field.

Macalester 40, St. Scholastica 20

Michael Nadeau completed 36 of 55 passes for 409 yards and four touchdowns as the Scots (3-7) closed out their season with a convincing MIAC win over the Saints (2-8) in St. Paul. Nadeau’s favorite receiver was Logan Pampel, who had 10 catches for 106 yards and three touchdowns. Pampel also ran for a touchdown.

Nadeau’s seventh career game with at least 400 yards passing gives him a school-record 9,936 passing yards in four stellar seasons at Macalester. He also holds program records for career touchdown passes (84), completions (847) and attempts (1,402).

Wayne State 56, Concordia-St Paul 21

Peter Udoibok caught six passes for 141 yards, including a third-quarter touchdown on a reverse pass from fellow wide receiver Troy Ellison, but the Golden Bears (3-8, 2-8) were routed in their season finale by the Wildcats (8-3, 7-3) in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game at Sea Foam Stadium in St. Paul. The Wayne State defense held Concordia-St. Paul to 38 yards rushing and an average of 1.9 yards per carry.

South Dakota State 34, Youngstown State 0

The unbeaten Jackrabbits (10-0, 7-0), ranked No. 1 un FBS, clinched a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference championship with a shutout victory over the Penguins (6-4, 4-3) in Youngstown, Ohio. South Dakota State rolled up 490 yards of total offense as it extended its winning streak to 24 games dating back to last season.

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