IOWA CITY – Opportunity kept knocking Saturday afternoon for the Gophers, and finally, they answered.

Dragan Kesich’s 31-yard field goal with 8:33 left in the fourth quarter — his fourth field goal of the day — provided the winning points as the Gophers defeated No. 24 Iowa 12-10, ending the Hawkeyes’ eight-game winning streak in the Floyd of Rosedale rivalry and giving Minnesota its first victory in Iowa City since 1999.

“It’s a feeling like no other,” Gophers defensive end Danny Striggow said in a postgame radio interview.

Minnesota’s defense limited Iowa to 12 yards in the second half, while the Gophers offense amassed 174 yards after intermission to peck away for the victory.

The Gophers (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) tightened the Big Ten West Division race and prevented Iowa (6-2, 3-2) from taking another step toward the Big Ten Championship Game.

Iowa, though, nearly got a victory for the ages.

Cooper DeJean appeared to give the Hawkeyes a 16-12 lead with a 54-yard punt return for a touchdown with 1:21 left in the fourth quarter. Instead, a replay review ruled that DeJean had given a fair catch signal, so Iowa got the ball at their 46-yard line.

Fans fumed over the ruling, throwing water bottle and beer cans at the Gophers bench, and players moved to the field.

Justin Walley’s third-down interception of Deacon Hill with 1:00 left in the fourth quarter ended Iowa’s last threat. The Gophers went into victory formation, and three kneel-downs gave them possession of the prized bronze hog statue.

Minnesota’s defense forced two turnovers in Iowa territory, and while the offense scored only three points on the takeaways, those three were important — when Kesich cut Iowa’s lead to 10-9 on a 28-yard field goal with 2:28 left in the third quarter. The Gophers forced Iowa to go three-and-out four times in the second half and forced two turnovers in the final two quarters.

The Hawkeyes came out passing, with Hill hitting Diante Vines for 18 yards on the first play from scrimmage, and then Nico Ragaini for 10 yards on third-and-5 from the Hawkeyes 48. On third-and-14 from the Gophers 46, Hill was flushed from the pocket, bought time and found Vines, who outdueled cornerback Tre’Von Jones for a 36-yard gain to the 10.

Minnesota’s defense limited the damage as the Hawkeyes settled for Drew Stevens’ 23-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 10:35 left in the first quarter.

Zach Evans got the call at running back on the Gophers’ third possession, and he immediately had runs of 9 and 4 yards for Minnesota’s first first down. The second first down came on a pass interference call on Jermari Harris, moving the ball to the Iowa 43. After Evans gained 9 yards to the 31, the drive stalled. Fleck called timeouts with 29 seconds and 23 seconds left in the quarter to make sure Kesich had the wind at his back for what turned out to be a 43-yard field goal that tied the score 3-3.

After Minnesota’s defense quickly forced a punt, the Gophers offense went into the wind in the second quarter. Facing third-and-1 from the 21, the Gophers were called for an illegal snap. Kaliakmanis’ third-and-6 pass intended for Crooms was incomplete, forcing Minnesota to punt.

The Gophers defense came up big when linebacker Devon Williams stripped the ball from Hill. Safety Tyler Nubin recovered at the Iowa 32. The offense, though, got nothing from the takeaway as runs of 3 and 4 yards by Evans and no gain by Taylor left the Gophers facing fourth-and-3. Kesich was wide right on his 43-yard field-goal attempt into the wind.

Iowa reached its 44 on its next series before Eastern and Ryan Selig stopped Patterson for no gain on third-and-1. On came Tory Taylor, whose 55-yard punt was downed by Cooper DeJean at the Minnesota 1.

Kaliakmanis avoided a safety on third down and hit Jackson on the sideline, a yard short of the first down. After Mark Crawford’s punt, Iowa got the ball at the Minnesota 48.

The Gophers imploded on Iowa’s possession, and the Hawkeyes cashed in with Hill’s 1-yard sneak for a 10-3 lead with 49 seconds left in the second quarter. The miscues started when the Gophers appeared to make a third-down stop at the 40, but defensive end Danny Striggow drew a facemask penalty, giving the Hawkeyes new life at the 25. Two plays later, Justin Walley was flagged for pass interference in the end zone, moving the ball to the 6. Jah Joyner followed with an offsides penalty, and the Hawkeyes had the ball at the 3.

Hill’s third-down keeper from the 1 gained nothing, but Nubin poked the ball out of Hill’s hands after the play, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. On the next play, Hill bulled his way in for the lead.

The Gophers got the ball to start the third quarter and drove 64 yards in 13 plays to cut Iowa’s lead to 10-6 on Kesich’s 44-yard field goal with 8:59 left in the third quarter. On the drive, Kaliakmanis found Daniel Jackson for a 20-yard gain to the Minnesota 30 and Taylor for 11 to the Iowa 34.

Minnesota got a second takeaway in Iowa territory when Nubin separated the ball from Hill, and Williams recovered at the Hawkeyes 11. The Gophers couldn’t fully capitalize, settling for Kesich’s 28-yard field goal the cut the Iowa lead to 10-9. Kaliakmanis was sacked on second down and overthrew Jackson on a third-down fade in the end zone.

The Gophers outgained Iowa 97 to minus-3 in the third quarter and entered the fourth with the ball at their 43. They reached the Iowa 42 before their drive stalled.

With 1:59 left in the fourth quarter, Tory Taylor’s punt put the Gophers at their 13. Sean Tyler gained a yard on first down, and Kaliakmanis threw incomplete on second down. Sean Tyler gained 3 on third down, and the Hawkeyes called their second timeout with 1:41 left, and the Gophers facing fourth-and-6 from their 17.

Then came the near-miss from DeJean, followed by the Gophers rushing the north end zone to grab Floyd of Rosedale.