By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa football team enters its bye week with an angry fan base, but the ongoing dysfunction on offense is just part of the reason.

Minnesota hung on to defeat the offensively challenged Hawkeyes for the first time since 2014, winning 12-10 on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium, but it took a controversial call by the officials in the closing minutes for the outcome to be decided.

Iowa appeared to have scored on a 54-yard punt return by Cooper DeJean, but the officials ruled that he made an invalid fair catch signal with his left arm, erasing the touchdown.

The Iowa fans, who already were frustrated and angry with their offense after watching it gain just 127 yards and commit three turnovers, reached the boiling point when DeJean’s touchdown was erased.

Some fans threw debris on the field, while DeJean looked stunned when his touchdown was overruled.

The Gophers then intercepted a Deacon Hill pass and would go on to out the clock to give head coach P.J. Fleck his first win over Iowa in seven games.

It was also Minnesota’s first win at Kinnick Stadium since 1999.

When the game ended, the Minnesota players rushed over to the north end zone to take possession of Floyd of Rosedale, the pig statue that goes to winner in this border rivalry.

The Iowa players seemed stunned as they watched their opponent celebrate.

In just a matter of seconds, DeJean and his teammates had gone from feeling the thrill of what appeared to be a likely victory to feeling the agony of defeat.

DeJean appeared to motion with his left arm before fielding the punt near the Gopher sideline, and though it seemed he was telling his teammates to stay away from the ball, DeJean said afterwards he waved his left arm partly to help keep his balance. But the officials saw it differently and ruled that he made an invalid fair catch signal.

“It’s tough. I’m still kind of in shock with what all happened,” DeJean said afterwards. “It’s frustrating for this team. We just kept fighting.”

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz was clearly frustrated with DeJean’s punt return being overturned, and with the officiating as a whole.

“I’ll start out by saying whatever I do say, hopefully, if the Big Ten deems it necessary to fine me, hopefully, they’ll maybe find it in their hearts to send it to a good cause like the children’s hospital would be a good place to start,” Kirk Ferentz said. “It was just a peculiar game in the fact we had six replays today. I can’t remember a game, maybe we’ve had some with that amount.

“Really, the last play is just a little bit tough.”

And though it’s easy to blame the officials for deciding the outcome of Saturday’s game, and maybe even justifiable to do so, the performance of the Iowa offense was unacceptable.

The controversial call on DeJean’s punt return created a distraction from just how poorly the offense performed yet again.

Deacon Hill lost two fumbles and threw a late interception in what was the sophomore’s third career start. He also passed for just 116 yards with 64 coming on Iowa’s opening possession of the game.

Iowa had just one first down in the second half.

“Inexcusable,” Hill said. “I’ve got to hang on to the ball whether a guy is hitting me or not.”

His head coach would agree.

“There are a lot of things we need to do better, and at the top of the list is just ball security,” Kirk Ferentz said. “You can’t win football games turning it over three times.”

Iowa’s only touchdown drive started on the Gopher 46-yard line and 34 of the yards came on four Minnesota penalties.

The Hawkeyes (6-2, 3-2) now have two weeks to prepare for their next game against Northwestern on Nov. 4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

However, it’s hard to imagine an extra week being enough time to fix the offense because many of the problems appear to be systematic and beyond repair.

The hope was that the Iowa running game was starting to click after having combined to gain 381 yards on the ground in the previous two games against Purdue and Wisconsin.

But the running game took a major step backwards on Saturday, gaining just 11 yards on 28 carries.

Deacon Hill had Iowa’s longest run in Saturday’s game of just seven yards.

Minnesota wasn’t much better on offense as it finished with just 239 yards, had 10 3-and-outs and was 4-of-18 on third-down plays.

Iowa senior punter Tory Taylor was sensational as usual as he punted nine times for a 49.3 average. Five of his punts were downed inside the 20, while four traveled more than 50 yards.

Iowa has been flirting with disaster all season due to the problems on offense, but still had a 6-1 record entering Saturday’s game.

The fear was that the ongoing problems on offense would eventually cost Iowa in what was a winnable game, and that’s exactly what happened Saturday.

Iowa never really stood a chance in its 31-0 loss at Penn State on Sept. 23, but against the Gophers, there were plenty of opportunities, and yet, the offense just couldn’t meet the challenge.

The 10 points is Iowa’ second lowest point total of the season, and Iowa is now averaging just 19.5 points per game.

That is below the 25-point performance incentive in Brian Ferentz’s revised contract as offensive coordinator.

Kirk Ferentz took a huge gamble when he hooked his legacy to his son by making Brian Ferentz the offensive coordinator in 2017 and quarterback coach in 2021.

So far, the decision has backfired as the Iowa offense is now a national laughingstock and punchline.

Kirk Ferentz has been widely criticized for showing his son preferential treatment, while Brian Ferentz has been mocked and ridiculed for being in over his head.

The performance of the offense on Saturday will only add gas to the fire.

The offense has been hurt by injuries to key players, including starting quarterback Cade McNamara, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against Michigan State in the fifth game of the season.

Iowa is also without its top two tight ends in Luke Lachey and Erick All due to injuries.

But even when those guys were healthy, the offense still struggled.

McNamara was only completing 51.1 percent of his passes when he was injured in the first quarter against Michigan State.

Given how poorly Hill has played since becoming the starter, it makes you wonder how wide the gap is between Hill and third-team quarterback Joe Labas, who led Iowa to a 21-0 victory over Kentucky in the 2022 Music City Bowl.

Kirk Ferentz was asked about his reluctance to switch quarterbacks after Saturday’s game. And based on what Kirk Ferentz said, the gap between Hill and Labas must be wide.

“So, on that topic, I’ll say this: for 25 years, we watch guys in practice and we evaluate what they do in practice, and moving forward, certainly game performance is a big part of it,” Kirk Ferentz said. “But you know, if it’s close, neck-and-neck, that type of thing, then you rotate guys in and take a look at them.

“I don’t think we’re insane. You go with what you see in practice and try to make the best decisions at all positions, not just quarterback.”

Judging from that answer, Hill must be performing better than Labas in practice because why else would Kirk Ferentz be so reluctant to make a change under the circumstances?

It also makes you wonder about the development of the Iowa quarterbacks under Brian Ferentz.

The Iowa offense has performed at a historically low level since the start of the 2022 season, and there have been times like Saturday’s game when the defense and special teams just can’t overcome the lack of production on offense.

Some fans are hoping that Brian Ferentz would be fired ASAP, but that seems highly unlikely, and not just because his father is the head coach.

In-season firings don’t really accomplish anything.

But once this season is over, and barring an unexpected surge by the offense in the last four games, Kirk Ferentz will have to do some serious soul searching and start to accept the sobering fact that his son isn’t performing at an acceptable level.

Brian Ferentz has had some good moments as the Iowa offensive coordinator, but they have been few and far between, especially since the start of the 2022 season.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that the offense is preventing this team from being a legitimate contender.

Iowa still could win what is a very mediocre Big Ten West Division, but the gap that separates Iowa from being elite just keeps getting wider because of the problems on offense.

Minnesota 3 0 6 3 – 12

Iowa 3 7 0 0 – 10

I -Drew Stevens 23 FG

M – Dragan Kesich 43 FG

I – Deacon Hill 1 run (Stevens kick)

M – Kesich 44 FG

M – Kesich 28 FG

M – Kesich 31 FG