Iowa lost on invalid fair catch that wiped away touchdown, College Football Playoff hope

Iowa lost a heartbreaking ‘invalid fair catch’ ruling that wiped away a touchdown.

Iowa leads college football in unintentional comedy. The Hawkeyes are historically a great defensive team and a terrible offensive team, and that split is playing out once again. This time, though, there’s added intrigue because the university added a rare stipulation to offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz’s contract that said he would automatically lose his job if the team doesn’t average 25 points per game this season.

As Iowa hosted Minnesota this season, the offense was still falling short of its goal. At the same time, the Hawkeyes kept on winning, entering the weekend at 6-1 and still somehow having an outside shot at the College Football Playoff with an easy schedule the rest of the season before a potential appearance in the Big Ten championship game.

Iowa’s playoff dreams are now over, and it happened in the most bizarre way possible.

Minnesota beat Iowa, 12-10, on Saturday for the program’s first win against the Hawkeyes since 2014. It looked like Iowa had taken the lead a punt return with under two minutes left, but the refs made a controversial call to rule the ball dead. Watch the play here:

Iowa’s Cooper DeJean took the ball to the end zone to give the Hawkeyes the lead ... until the play was called back because the refs ruled that DeJean called an “invalid fair catch” which results in a dead ball.

Here’s how Big Ten referee Tim ODey explained the play after the game:

In the NFL, punt returners need to waive their hand over their head to call fair catch. In college, returns only have to use any hand motion to call fair catch. The refs ruled that DeJean didn’t make his intentions clear enough when he waived his arm, which means it’s a dead ball. Here’s a look at the rule.

Essentially, punt returners can’t waive their arm and then return the ball. By waiving, the return confused the coverage team, and so the play is blown dead. DeJean offered his own perspective after the game:

“I assume they’d blow the whistle if it was a fair catch. I didn’t hear a whistle though. So I just kept going.”

The Iowa offense was hilariously inept in this game once again:

What a way to lose for Iowa. Maybe the offense should try gaining some yards and scoring some points before complaining about a special teams ruling.