P.J. Fleck says there was "nothing controversial" about fair catch call that negated Iowa return touchdown
MINNEAPOLIS — Gopher football head coach P.J. Fleck said Monday there was "nothing controversial" about a call at the end of Saturday's game that negated a potential game-winning touchdown for the Iowa Hawkeyes.
"There's nothing controversial about it. Nothing controversial. Offsides is offsides. False start's a false start. A hold is a hold. Invalid fair catch signal is an invalid fair catch signal," Fleck said.
With less than two minutes left and the Gophers leading 12-10, Fleck's special teams unit punted the ball away to Iowa's Cooper DeJean. DeJean motioned with his left hand before fielding the punt and taking it 54 yards to the end zone. After a review, the officials declared DeJean made an invalid fair catch signal and the punt was ruled dead where he fielded it.
"Now the way the rule states is 'invalid fair catch,' so everybody thinks it's above your shoulder and it has to look like a fair catch. That's not part of the rule," Fleck said. "The only thing that should've happened, and I'm not a referee, nor am I blaming anyone, is it should've just been just blown dead right there. Don't even let that play happen because it doesn't exist ... No controversy about it."
In Iowa's three following offensive plays, quarterback Deacon Hill was sacked, threw an incomplete pass and was intercepted. The Gophers ran out the clock, earning their first win at Iowa since 1999 and claiming Floyd of Rosedale for their own.
"We still had to go play football. That play did not exist. We still had to go play football. Next play our players respond, we have a sack, then we have an interception," Fleck said. "We still had to go make plays."
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Fleck said while the final play got most of the attention, it wasn't the sole reason the Gophers beat the Hawkeyes.
"We didn't have any turnovers. They had three. That's the difference in the game, period," he said. "They had 11 yards rushing … Eleven yards and their longest rush was a quarterback sneak."
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said he thought DeJean "was naturally running to the football and he just made a great play, one of the best ones I've ever seen." He said it was as bad a call as he's seen in his coaching career. Ferentz also said he thought the refs were only reviewing whether DeJean stepped out of bounds.
"How we got from point A to point B I have no idea," Ferentz said. "I don't know what that path was. I've heard the explanation, recording of it. It's hard to make it make sense."
Big Ten referee Tim Odey explained the crew's decision after the game on Saturday.
"The receiver makes a pointing gesture with his right hand and he makes multiple waving gestures with his left hand," he said. "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. So that is a reviewable element of the game. We let the play run out and then when we went to review, review shows with indisputable evidence that there is a waving motion with the left hand. And that is when these rules are applied."
Fleck said the heated discussion around the call didn't tamper the team's celebrations.
"Obviously a great win for us," he said. "Really excited to bring Floyd home."
