Despite a definite 12-10 loss to Minnesota inside Kinnick Stadium on Saturday night, the game’s controversial ending left Hawkeye fans with more questions than answers.

It was fourth down, Minnesota punting the ball away to the Hawkeyes, who were losing, 12-10, with under two minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

Iowa defensive back and punt returner Cooper DeJean — who already scored a game-winning punt return this season against Michigan State on Sept. 30 — found the ball in the air, rushed to it, and let it bounce once before catching it. 

He evaded a handful of Golden Gopher tacklers tumbling his way and broke out into the empty right side of the field, sprinting into the end zone. 

Touchdown, Hawkeyes. 16-12, Hawkeyes.

At least that’s how it looked. But looks can be deceiving.

The game’s officials opted to review the play to see if DeJean stepped out of bounds upon the catch. 

When the officials returned to the field, they called DeJean’s touchdown back — not because he stepped out of bounds but because the waving of his left arm shoulder-high as he pointed to the ball with his right arm to alert his teammates to the ball’s location was ruled an invalid fair catch signal.

The play in question:

Iowa returned a punt for a TD while down 12-10 vs Minnesota with 1:20 left in the 4th quarter

After a review, the refs ruled the returner signaled a ‘fair catch’ and the touchdown did not count. Iowa lost the game. pic.twitter.com/SJFZ5WGjWY

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 22, 2023

According to the 2021 NCAA Instant Replay Coaches Manual, a reviewable play involving a kick includes the “receiving team advancing after a fair catch signal.”

So the question was not the legitimacy of the review; it was therefore a question of the decision.

In a postgame statement, Big Ten referee Tim O’Dey said the bases for the ruling were the facts that an invalid fair catch signal is “any waving motion by a receiving team member that happens throughout the kickdown” and that the ball is thus dead upon a player recovering the ball after an invalid signal.

“That waving motion of the left hand constitutes an invalid fair catch signal, so when the receiving team recovers the ball, by rule it becomes dead,” Odey said in the statement. “It’s legal to point, but any waving motion of the hands during a kick play is considered an invalid signal.”

According to the NCAA rulebook, a valid fair catch signal occurs when a player “has obviously signaled his intention by extending one hand only clearly above his head and waving that hand from side to side of his body more than once.”

The rulebook states an invalid fair catch signal occurs when a player makes a waving signal that does not meet the valid fair catch signal requirement above, so the play is struck dead upon recovery of the ball.

As a result, the officials determined the motion of DeJean’s left arm constituted an invalid fair catch signal — striking the play dead where the ball was caught, erasing the touchdown, and keeping the Golden Gophers on top.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said the officials told him DeJean was waving based on their pregame explanation to Ferentz that a wave above the head signals a fair catch.

In the postgame press conference, Ferentz said in his years of coaching, he had never seen anything “that bad,” citing confusion with the officials first reviewing if DeJean was inbounds before opting to look at the signal.

“Most people, when they run, their arms do wave,” Ferentz said. “If you look at the video, it looked like he was naturally running to the football.

“He just made a great play, one of the best ones I’ve ever seen,” Ferentz added. “That part is the hardest part. An unbelievable effort gets taken off of the board.”

But with Hawkeye quarterback Deacon Hill thus back on the field for first and 10 — the Hawkeye offense needing to make up some yards to push into field goal range and try to win the Floyd of Rosedale trophy for the ninth-straight year — the game was not over.

Two incompletions and a Hill interception later, though, the Hawkeyes lost both the game and the trophy, fell to 6-2 overall on the season, and left Iowa fans in both shock and frustration at the result.