A muted gray shirt on the jumbotron in Kinnick Stadium stands out in a sea of black. The yellow text on it pops, reading: “it wasn’t a fair catch.” This and dozens of other shirts just it like scatter throughout the stands. The crowd roars its approval.
A few minutes later, with Iowa already up 24-0, Kaden Wetjen steps forward to field a punt at the 50 yard line. And when he does, 69,250 fans immediately think back to two years ago.
A very different game but a similar set of circumstances. Down 12-10 against the same Golden Gophers on a similar cool October afternoon, Iowa return man Cooper DeJean let the ball bounce at the 50 and fielded it at his own 45.
He spun once to slip off a Minnesota tackler, put his head down, and barreled forward as suddenly more than half of the Gophers found themselves chasing from behind.
Only bits and pieces of that day remain in the selective memories of Iowa fans.
The mustard yellow uniforms. The return. The touchdown. Euphoria.
They’d prefer to forget the review. The reversal. The interception. Misery.
In the press conference after the game, Kirk Ferentz looked his age. Eye bags appeared that little bit bigger. Cheeks red as raspberries. “My theory is the more people that get involved, the more screwed up things are,” he mused.
Ever since, Iowa has been waiting to get another shot at Minnesota in Kinnick Stadium.
As he reels the ball in, Wetjen immediately bolts right and backtracks a few yards to gain depth. Once he crosses the Tigerhawk logo, he turns on the burners and heads upfield.
Just like with DeJean, a host of Golden Gophers are already playing catch up. This time, however, there are also white jerseys converging from left, right, and directly ahead.
But Wetjen floats right through them as if possessed by the ghost of DeJean himself. Two of the Gophers take each other out in the process. Suddenly, it’s Wetjen with teammate KJ Parker in front, and only the punter Tom Weston to beat.
Weston has no interest in making a play. Parker pancakes him for good measure, and Wetjen strolls into the endzone without a Gopher laying more than a finger on him. Effortless.
“And I was really close to fair catching that too,” he jokes. “Thankfully, it was a touchdown.”
Instead of a complaint, “It wasn’t a fair catch” has become a rallying cry for Hawkeye fans. Akin to “Punting is Winning” and “Tight End University.”
It’s appeared behind home plate at the World Series, on the Pat McAfee show, and all across social media.
Subsequent blowout wins of 31-14 and now 41-3 in the years since will do that. The scars of 2023 are less prominent than they ever have been, though the asterisk will never go away.
But maybe the DeJean play wasn’t a scar after all. Scars are permanent. Wounds heal with time.
Just ask DeJean himself: “All smiles”.
