October 6, 1990: The University of Colorado wins a football game that it shouldn't have, because they received a 5th down, and nobody noticed it at the time.
For those of you not familiar with American football: A team is allowed 4 downs, or plays, to move the ball 10 yards (about 9.14 meters) toward the goal line. If the offense moves the ball 10 yards in 4 attempts or fewer, it gains another 1st down, which restarts the process. If, after four attempts, the offense has neither scored nor gained 10 yards, the other team is given possession of the ball. This is called "turning the ball over on downs."
The goalposts are on the end line, ten yards behind the goal line. A field goal is worth three points, and attempting one requires the ball to be snapped seven yards behind the line of scrimmage. Therefore, a 50-yard field goal, pretty much the difference between an NFL-quality placekicker and less than that, would have to be kicked from the defensive team's 33-yard line.
If a team is within that, or closer, and is on 4th down, it usually tries the field goal. If the ball is between there and midfield, the 50-yard line, and 4 yards or less from the point where a 1st down would be gained, the team usually tries another play from scrimmage, a run or a pass. This is usually called "going for it." But if it's more than 4 yards, or if the offensive team is still in their half of the field, 99 percent of the time, their coach will punt the ball back to the other team, and trust their defense to hold the other team's offense.
Under normal circumstances -- for example, excluding penalties that can involve replaying a down -- no team is supposed to be allowed 5 attempts. But there have been times when a 5th down changed the outcome of a game. On November 16, 1940, Cornell University went into Dartmouth's College's Memorial Field in Hanover, New Hampshire with an 18-game winning streak. Cornell scored a late touchdown to win the game, 7-3. But after reviewing the game film, Cornell head coach Carl Snavely discovered that the officials had mistakenly given his team an extra down. He informed the NCAA, and forfeited the game, and Dartmouth were declared 3-0 winners.
On December 8, 1966, the Los Angeles Rams were penalized for holding as they attempted a winning drive against the Chicago Bears at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Holding is one of the penalties that results in a down being replayed, not lost. But the officials mistakenly changed the down marker from 1st to 2nd. Nobody noticed, the Rams went on to turn the ball over on downs, and lost, 17-16. The loss didn't change the NFL's Playoff race, so nothing was ever done about it.
In 1972, the University of Miami played Tulane at the Orange Bowl, and the officials mistakenly called Miami's offense back on the field after it had turned over on downs. Miami scored a touchdown on the next play, and won, 24-21. They did not forfeit.
So: On October 6, 1990, a Big Eight Conference game was played in front of 46,856 -- about 16,000 short of a sellout, due to rainy weather -- at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri, between the University of Missouri and the University of Colorado. Colorado came into the game ranked Number 12 in the country, with a record of 3-1-1, having lost to Illinois and tied Tennessee. Missouri were unranked, 2-2, and heavy underdogs.
Colorado's starting quarterback, Darian Hagan, was injured, so backup quarterback Charles Johnson started. The game went back and forth, until, with 3 minutes left, trailing 31-27, Colorado got the ball back. With 40 seconds left, they got a 1st down, just short of Missouri's goal line.
In college football, with less than 2 minutes remaining in each half, the clock is stopped when a 1st down is gained, long enough for the referees to move the markers showing the line of scrimmage and the spot where a 1st down can be gained, markers joined by a chain. This action, and also the gaining of a 1st down, are called "moving the chains." Once the markers are in place, the referee restarts the clock.
On 1st down and goal to go, Johnson spiked the ball to stop the clock. This was part of the problem: The rule allowing a quarterback to do this was brand-new, and this may have confused an official. Still, the down marker was correctly changed to read 2nd down.
Running back Eric Bieniemy ran up the middle, and was stopped just short of the goal line. It was now 3rd down, and Colorado called time out. But the officials did not change the down marker. At the time, officials were not required to carry handheld down markers.
It's also been alleged that the official in charge of the down marker was distracted by EMTs tending to a Missouri fan in the stands who had suffered a heart attack. (Unfortunately, he died. I don't have his name.)
So on what should have been 3rd down, every on-field indication was of 2nd down. The scoreboard operator saw this, and put a "2" up on the board. Again, Bienemy was stopped short. On the 3rd down that should have been 4th, Johnson spiked the ball again. If the correct down had always been listed, the 2nd spike would have been made instead of the 2nd Bienemy run.
So now when it should have been Missouri's ball, Colorado had a 4th down. Johnson took the ball on a quarterback keeper, and scored. Colorado led, 33-31.
It was only then that the officials realized their mistake. The broadcasters also noticed it. But the officials chose to let the touchdown count, and Colorado took a knee instead of trying an extra point, for fear of Missouri blocking it and returning it for 2 points. Colorado were allowed to win.
Amid calls to forfeit, head coach Bill McCartney, one of those evangelicals who was very selective about Christianity, refused, citing Missouri's failure to take care of their artificial turf in lousy weather. (He refused even after instant replays showed that Johnson had been stopped short of the goal line, and hadn't actually scored. To make matters worse, McCartney was a Missouri graduate.) Missouri appealed to the Big Eight Conference, but were denied. All the league did was suspend the officiating crew.
Colorado won the Big Eight title, rose to Number 1 in the rankings, and beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. The Associated Press' (AP) poll, of sportswriters, named them the National Champions, despite the fact that they had a tie, a legitimate loss, and a win that should have been a legitimate loss.
The poll conducted by United Press International (UPI) was of the coaches, and their choice for the final Number 1 was Georgia Tech, 11-0-1, the only blemish on their record a tie against North Carolina. Perhaps it was because they were Champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference, not one of the biggest leagues, that led the AP writers to choose Colorado over them.
And without a playoff, or even the Bowl Championship Series, teams that won their leagues were locked into certain bowls: The Big Ten and Pacific-Ten into the Rose, the Big Eight into the Orange, the Southeastern Conference into the Sugar, the Southwest Conference into the Cotton, and the aforementioned ACC into the Citrus. So unless the Rose had Number 1 vs. Number 2, or 1 of the top 2 was the titlist in the Big Eight, the SEC or the SWC, and the other was an independent like Notre Dame and Miami then were, we weren't going to get a definitive National Champion, even if both polls agreed.
And they frequently didn't. Here are the times when that happened, with the AP choice (which began in 1936) listed 1st, the UPI choice (which began in 1950) 2nd:
* 1954: Ohio State and UCLA.
* 1957: Auburn and Ohio State.
* 1965: Alabama and Michigan State.
* 1970: Nebraska and Texas.
* 1973: Notre Dame and Alabama, even though Notre Dame beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
* 1974: Oklahoma and Southern California (USC). UPI excluded teams on probation from its poll, thus disqualifying Oklahoma.
* 1978: Alabama and Southern California, even though USC beat Alabama in the regular season.
* 1990: Colorado and Georgia Tech.
* 1991: Miami and Washington.
* 1997: Michigan and Nebraska.
So this game, leading to a split final poll, and the following year's split final poll, may have changed the history of the sport. In 1992, the Bowl Coalition was created, and this was the first step toward the Playoff system we have now.
Charles Johnson, who scored the winning touchdown, became a receiver when he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers. So did his successor as Colorado quarterback Kordell Stewart, who, because he was a "quarterback/runner/receiver," was nicknamed Slash. Johnson played for them from 1994 to 1998, the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999 and 2000, the New England Patriots in 2001 (where he won a Super Bowl), and the Buffalo Bills in 2002). He then became a high school administrator and coach, before dying on July 17, 2022, only 50 years old. No cause of death was determined
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October 6, 1990 was a Saturday. Among the other major college football games that day were these:
* Number 1 Notre Dame were upset by Stanford, 36-31 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. The Fighting Irish later lost to Penn State, but were still Number 5 when they played Colorado in the Orange Bowl. Had they won that game, they wouldn't have been awarded the National Championship -- then again, it's Notre Dame, so you never know -- but Colorado certainly wouldn't have, being 8-2-1.
* Number 2 Florida State were upset by Number 9 Miami, 31-22 at the Orange Bowl. Two weeks later, the Hurricanes lost to Notre Dame, blowing their chance. The same day, the Seminoles lost to Auburn, finishing theirs off.
* Number 3 Michigan beat Wisconsin, 41-3 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. The Wolverines then lost their next 2 games, to Michigan State and Iowa, blowing their chance.
* Number 4 Tennessee had the week off. They later blew their chance by losing to Alabama and Notre Dame.
* Number 5 Auburn beat Louisiana Tech, 16-14 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. But the Tigers blew their chance by losing 3 games the rest of the way.
* Number 7 Oklahoma beat in-State rival Oklahoma State, 31-17 at Lewis Field (now Boone Pickens Stadium) in Stillwater, Oklahoma. But the Sooners lost their next 3 games.
* Number 8 Nebraska beat Kansas State, 45-8 at KSU Stadium (now Bill Snyder Family Stadium) in Manhattan, Kansas. The next month, Colorado beat them to knock them out of the Big 8, and national, title picture.
* Number 10 Florida beat Louisiana State, 34-8 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. The next week, the Gators lost to Tennessee.
* Texas, then unranked, beat Rice, 26-10 at Rice Stadium in Houston. They got up to Number 3 before losing to then-Number 4 Miami in the Cotton Bowl. And they'd already lost to Colorado on September 22. So even if they'd won the Cotton Bowl, they probably wouldn't have been ranked any higher than 3rd in the last poll.
Baseball's Playoffs were in progress. The National League Championship Series was on a travel day, with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds tied 1-1. The Reds went on to win the series in 6 games.
Game 1 of the American League Championship Series was played at Fenway Park in Boston. The Boston Red Sox led 1-0 after 6 innings, but the Oakland Athletics scored a run in the 7th, another in the 8th, and 7 in the 9th, to win, 9-1. They swept the series. They were heavily favored to win the World Series, but the Reds swept them in 4 straight.
The NBA season didn't start until November 2. But there were 10 NHL games that day:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Hartford Whalers, 5-4 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the XL Center).
* The New York Islanders lost to the Minnesota North Stars, 4-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-1 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-5 at the Montreaa Forum.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Quebec Nordiques, 7-1 at the Boston Garden.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-4 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 at the St. Louis Arena.
* On CBC's Hockey Night In Canada, The Calgary Flames beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
* The Winnipeg Jets and the Edmonton Oilers played to a 3-3 tie at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.
* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Los Angeles Kings, 6-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, Califorrnia.
Also, in English soccer, Arsenal beat Norwich City, 2-0 at Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.
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