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Fifth Down Game (1990)
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Fifth Down Game (1990)
The Fifth Down Game was a college football game on October 6, 1990, that included a play the crew officiating permitted in error. That play enabled the Colorado Buffaloes to defeat the Missouri Tigers by scoring a touchdown at the end of the game. The ensuing controversy cast doubt on Colorado's claim to Division I-A's 1990 national championship, which it went on to share with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. It has been called one of the top memorable moments and blunders in college football history.
In American football, a team is allowed four downs, or plays, to move the ball ten yards toward the goal line. If the offense moves ten yards in four attempts or fewer, it gains a "first down," which restarts the process. If, after four attempts, the offense has neither scored nor gained ten yards, the other team is given possession of the ball. Under normal circumstances (for example, excluding penalties that can involve replaying a down), no team is supposed to be allowed five attempts. In this game, due to an officiating error, Colorado was given a fifth consecutive down, which they used to score the game-winning touchdown as time expired.
The game pitted Colorado against Big Eight rival Missouri and was played on October 6, 1990, in front of a crowd of 46,856. The game was played at Faurot Field, Missouri's home stadium in Columbia, Missouri. Colorado's starting quarterback, Darian Hagan, was injured and backup quarterback Charles Johnson, who had some playing time the previous week and season, played instead. However, Colorado was still heavily favored to win. Colorado was ranked #12 by the Associated Press in the nation while Missouri was unranked (i.e. below the top 25). Colorado's record coming into the game was 3–1–1 (three wins, one loss, one tie) with wins over #12 Washington, #20 Texas, and unranked Stanford; their loss to #21-ranked Illinois and the tie to #8 Tennessee. Missouri was 2–2 (two wins, two losses) coming into the game with wins over #21 Arizona State and unranked Utah State and losses to unranked TCU and Indiana.
The lead in this game changed several times, and several big plays kept the momentum swinging. With less than three minutes to go, Colorado took possession of the ball deep in its own territory trailing 31–27. Johnson led the team on a last-ditch drive. With about 40 seconds to go, he completed a pass to Colorado tight end Jon Boman who fell down just yards short of the goal line. Boman slipped due to the poor conditions of the field, which saw the Buffaloes slip on the turf repeatedly throughout the game. This play gave the Buffaloes a first down, but it led to immediate confusion because the Buffs were running a hurry-up offense.
On first down, Johnson spiked the ball to stop the clock. On the next play, with the down marker accurately indicating second down, a power run into the line by Eric Bieniemy was stopped just short of the goal line. Colorado then called its third and final timeout. During the timeout, the chain crew failed to flip the down marker to note that it was now third down.
A 2010 ESPN article lists the factors that possibly contributed to the confusion among the chain crew, referee J. C. Louderback, and the rest of the officiating crew during the timeout. For one, not every official at the time was required to wear a down indicator or rubber bands on their hands to separately keep track of the current down, by putting the band around their index finger when it is first down, the middle finger when it is second down, and so on. Second, this was the first year the quarterback spike became legal in college football; many officials had not seen this done before or did not clearly see that this was a spike and may have thought the ball was inadvertently kicked and reset, and therefore the down did not change to second at that point. In addition, the chain crew member holding the down marker became distracted during the timeout as his attention drifted to what was happening in the stands, as EMTs were desperately performing CPR on a fan who had suffered a fatal heart attack. Further, Louderback himself forgot to signal third down, and immediately went to the sideline to the Colorado bench to alert head coach Bill McCartney that the Buffaloes had no more timeouts; the brief conversation between Louderback and McCartney as they looked at the incorrect down marker cemented their misconception as to what the down was.
On the next play, with the down marker showing second down when it was really third down, the Buffaloes made the same call and Bieniemy was again stopped short of the end zone. Johnson then spiked the ball (thinking it was third down when it was really fourth) to stop the clock with two seconds left. He later claimed he had no idea the officials had made a mistake, and believed he was spiking the ball on third down. On the following play--fourth down according to the marker, but "fifth down" in reality--Johnson kept the ball himself and scored a touchdown.
By this time, Louderback and his officiating crew had realized their mistake and conferred for nearly 20 minutes to decide their course of action. During the delay, radio and television announcers also noticed that Colorado had scored with the help of an additional play. Louderback was shown on the phone. After a lengthy consultation, the officials announced their decision: the touchdown counted, giving Colorado a 33–31 lead, and the Buffs would have to attempt the extra point. The rules do not require the extra point try if time has expired and the result will not affect the outcome of the game. However, since Colorado led by only two, Missouri could have potentially blocked the try and returned it for two points to tie the game, thus the try was required. Not wanting to take this chance, Johnson took the snap and went to a knee, allowing the Buffaloes to go home with a controversial win.
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Fifth Down Game (1990)
The Fifth Down Game was a college football game on October 6, 1990, that included a play the crew officiating permitted in error. That play enabled the Colorado Buffaloes to defeat the Missouri Tigers by scoring a touchdown at the end of the game. The ensuing controversy cast doubt on Colorado's claim to Division I-A's 1990 national championship, which it went on to share with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. It has been called one of the top memorable moments and blunders in college football history.
In American football, a team is allowed four downs, or plays, to move the ball ten yards toward the goal line. If the offense moves ten yards in four attempts or fewer, it gains a "first down," which restarts the process. If, after four attempts, the offense has neither scored nor gained ten yards, the other team is given possession of the ball. Under normal circumstances (for example, excluding penalties that can involve replaying a down), no team is supposed to be allowed five attempts. In this game, due to an officiating error, Colorado was given a fifth consecutive down, which they used to score the game-winning touchdown as time expired.
The game pitted Colorado against Big Eight rival Missouri and was played on October 6, 1990, in front of a crowd of 46,856. The game was played at Faurot Field, Missouri's home stadium in Columbia, Missouri. Colorado's starting quarterback, Darian Hagan, was injured and backup quarterback Charles Johnson, who had some playing time the previous week and season, played instead. However, Colorado was still heavily favored to win. Colorado was ranked #12 by the Associated Press in the nation while Missouri was unranked (i.e. below the top 25). Colorado's record coming into the game was 3–1–1 (three wins, one loss, one tie) with wins over #12 Washington, #20 Texas, and unranked Stanford; their loss to #21-ranked Illinois and the tie to #8 Tennessee. Missouri was 2–2 (two wins, two losses) coming into the game with wins over #21 Arizona State and unranked Utah State and losses to unranked TCU and Indiana.
The lead in this game changed several times, and several big plays kept the momentum swinging. With less than three minutes to go, Colorado took possession of the ball deep in its own territory trailing 31–27. Johnson led the team on a last-ditch drive. With about 40 seconds to go, he completed a pass to Colorado tight end Jon Boman who fell down just yards short of the goal line. Boman slipped due to the poor conditions of the field, which saw the Buffaloes slip on the turf repeatedly throughout the game. This play gave the Buffaloes a first down, but it led to immediate confusion because the Buffs were running a hurry-up offense.
On first down, Johnson spiked the ball to stop the clock. On the next play, with the down marker accurately indicating second down, a power run into the line by Eric Bieniemy was stopped just short of the goal line. Colorado then called its third and final timeout. During the timeout, the chain crew failed to flip the down marker to note that it was now third down.
A 2010 ESPN article lists the factors that possibly contributed to the confusion among the chain crew, referee J. C. Louderback, and the rest of the officiating crew during the timeout. For one, not every official at the time was required to wear a down indicator or rubber bands on their hands to separately keep track of the current down, by putting the band around their index finger when it is first down, the middle finger when it is second down, and so on. Second, this was the first year the quarterback spike became legal in college football; many officials had not seen this done before or did not clearly see that this was a spike and may have thought the ball was inadvertently kicked and reset, and therefore the down did not change to second at that point. In addition, the chain crew member holding the down marker became distracted during the timeout as his attention drifted to what was happening in the stands, as EMTs were desperately performing CPR on a fan who had suffered a fatal heart attack. Further, Louderback himself forgot to signal third down, and immediately went to the sideline to the Colorado bench to alert head coach Bill McCartney that the Buffaloes had no more timeouts; the brief conversation between Louderback and McCartney as they looked at the incorrect down marker cemented their misconception as to what the down was.
On the next play, with the down marker showing second down when it was really third down, the Buffaloes made the same call and Bieniemy was again stopped short of the end zone. Johnson then spiked the ball (thinking it was third down when it was really fourth) to stop the clock with two seconds left. He later claimed he had no idea the officials had made a mistake, and believed he was spiking the ball on third down. On the following play--fourth down according to the marker, but "fifth down" in reality--Johnson kept the ball himself and scored a touchdown.
By this time, Louderback and his officiating crew had realized their mistake and conferred for nearly 20 minutes to decide their course of action. During the delay, radio and television announcers also noticed that Colorado had scored with the help of an additional play. Louderback was shown on the phone. After a lengthy consultation, the officials announced their decision: the touchdown counted, giving Colorado a 33–31 lead, and the Buffs would have to attempt the extra point. The rules do not require the extra point try if time has expired and the result will not affect the outcome of the game. However, since Colorado led by only two, Missouri could have potentially blocked the try and returned it for two points to tie the game, thus the try was required. Not wanting to take this chance, Johnson took the snap and went to a knee, allowing the Buffaloes to go home with a controversial win.