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The University of Colorado hired Deion Sanders in the hopes Coach Prime would be able to return the football program to its former glory. He still has plenty of work to do to bring a national championship back to Boulder for the first time since 1990—although that team got some help from the infamous “fifth down” that played a pivotal role in their title run.
Football is a sport governed by a wide array of rules that have the potential to alienate newcomers who are trying to learn the ropes. While it can take years to grasp all of the intricacies, the basic regulations are pretty straightforward—like the fact that you have four downs to move the ball 10 yards before giving up possession.
There are multiple people who are tasked with keeping track of what down it is, and while it’s ultimately on the officials to make sure everything is running smoothly, the fact that coaches, players, and fans are all keeping tabs on the action means you usually don’t need to worry about the refs slipping up.
Of course, they’re still humans with the ability to make mistakes—and it’s hard to think of a more obvious and impactful error than the one Colorado benefitted from during a showdown with Missouri in 1990.
The “fifth down” that led to Colorado winning a national championship
Colorado had finished the 1989 campaign with an 11-1 record and suffered its only loss while playing against Notre Dame for the national championship in the Orange Bowl.
The Buffaloes were ranked at No.5 heading at the start of the 1990 season, but a one-point loss to Illinois in Week 3 had put a bit of a dent in their goals to get a shot at redemption after coming as close as they could to winning a title the previous year.
As a result, every game from that point was essentially a must-win contest, which meant a 3-1-1 Colorado squad that was sitting at No. 12 on October 6, 1990 needed to leave Columbia with a victory against an unranked Missouri team that had gone 2-2 to that point.
However, that was easier said than done.
Fans were treated to a back-and-forth contest before Missouri took a 31-27 lead with around 2:30 remaining in the fourth quarter, which meant Colorado needed to drive down the field for a touchdown once it got the ball back on its own 12-yard line after the ensuing kickoff.
There was less than one minute remaining in the game when Buffaloes QB Charles Johnson connected with tight end Jon Boman in the red zone. While the TE had a wide-open path to the end zone, he lost his footing on the artificial turf at Faurot Field to give Colorado a fresh set of downs before Johnson spiked the ball to stop the clock with 28 seconds left.
On second down, Colorado running back Eric Bieniemy ran for three yards up the middle and was tackled a yard short of the goal line before Buffs head coach Bill McCartney called his final timeout, and before long, chaos unfolded.
Bieniemy once again attempted to punch the ball in but was stood up by the Missouri defense. The clock was still running, and Colorado scrambled to the line before Johnson spiked the ball for a second time to stop it with two seconds left on what should have been fourth down.
However, the officials tasked with keeping track of downs had failed to change the marker after Colorado called its timeout, which meant the Buffaloes not only kept possession but got one more chance to score a touchdown.
They capitalized on the opportunity when Johnson took matters into his own hands and ran into the end zone for the winning TD as the clock expired.
ESPN recapped the fallout of the “Fifth Down” in a lengthy article chronicling the various factors that led to the oversight, including an officiating crew that typically didn’t work together and a member of the chain gang who’d been distracted by EMTs attending to a fan who’d suffered a fatal heart attack at the exact moment Colorado called its last timeout.
It took a few seconds for the refs to signal a touchdown after Johnson ran the ball in, and many Missouri students had prematurely stormed the field thinking the Tigers had pulled off the upset. The scene began to turn ugly when they realized they’d actually lost, as a “FIFTH DOWN!” chant reverberated across the stadium as the officials gathered to try to determine if they had, in fact, lost track.
They spent 20 minutes discussing what to do before referee J. C. Louderback announced the touchdown stood but that both teams would need to come back out of the locker room so Colorado could attempt an extra point (Missouri could’ve theoretically tied the game by blocking the kick and returning it for a two-point conversion).
The Buffaloes opted to take a knee to officially bring the game to an end, and the visiting team and officiating crew were escorted off of the field by police tasked with protecting them from the angry fans who pelted them with objects as they headed to the confines of the stadium.
The controversy only increased when replays showed Johnson may have actually come up short of the goal line on the extra down, and while there were calls for Colorado to forfeit the game, a defiant McCartney (who’d played at Missouri) refused to concede the victory.
The Buffaloes wouldn’t lose a game for the remainder of the season and split the national championship with Georgia Tech after avenging their loss to Notre Dame with a 10-9 victory over the Fighting Irish in the Orange Bowl. All of the officials responsible for the debacle were suspended from working the following week, and two of them quietly retired once the season came to an end.