November 16, 1940: A game in what will later be called the Ivy League is played at Memorial Field in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth College hosts Cornell University.
Cornell came into the game with a 6-0 record, a 14-game winning streak, an 18-game unbeaten streak, the nation's Number 2 ranking, and a claim on the previous season's National Championships. (Most sources, including the recently-established Associated Press poll of sportswriters, gave it to Texas A&M.)
Dartmouth came in 3-4, although only 1 of their losses was by more than 6 points. They were coached by Earl "Red" Blaik, who would later coach the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to 3 straight National Championships.
The game was scoreless until the 4th quarter, when a field goal gave Dartmouth a 3-0 lead. With less than a minute left in the game, Cornell got the ball on Dartmouth's 6-yard line. On 1st down, fullback Mort Landsberg gained 3 yards. On 2nd down, Cornell halfback Walt Scholl managed to run the ball to the 1-yard line. On 3rd down, Landsberg tried to run up the middle, but gained maybe a few inches.
Then came the 4th down. Cornell was penalized for delay of game, and referee Red Friesell spotted the ball just over the 5-yard line. With 9 seconds left on the clock, Cornell quarterback "Pop" Scholl threw an incomplete pass into the end zone.
That should have meant Cornell turned the ball over. and Dartmouth got the ball on their own 20-yard line, and could run out the clock with 1 play and win. Linesman Joe McKenney correctly signaled this. But Friesell had miscounted, and placed the ball on the 6-yard line, giving Cornell 1 more chance -- a 5th down, labeled as a 4th down. Given this extra life, Scholl threw a last-play touchdown pass to William Murphy. The extra point was good, and Cornell were 7-3 winners.
Two days later, while reviewing the game film, Cornell head coach Carl Snavely discovered that the officials had mistakenly given his team an extra down. He told acting athletic director Bob Kane and University President Edmund Day. Day happened to be a Dartmouth graduate, although that turned out to be irrelevant. They all agreed that Cornell should send a telegram to Dartmouth, offering to forfeit. Dartmouth's response was an acceptance, and Cornell sent another telegram to the NCAA, officially forfeiting the game. The NCAA declared Dartmouth the winners, 3-0.
What would have happened if Snavely hadn't noticed the mistake? Or had refused to forfeit? Friesell admitted his mistake to the Eastern Intercollegiate Football Association, and acknowledged that his authority "ceased at the close of the game," so there was little he could do about it. The NCAA might have overruled the result, and declared Dartmouth the winners, anyway. But Snavely's sporting gesture made their decision easy.
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.
On October 14, 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. It wasn't a conference game (both teams were then independents), and neither team went to a bowl game, so this didn't matter much.
On October 6, 1990, a Big Eight Conference game was played at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri, between the University of Missouri and the University of Colorado. Late in the game, needing a touchdown to win, Colorado called time-out on what should have been 3rd down, but the officials did not change the down marker. At the time, officials were not required to carry handheld down markers.
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. Colorado thus got a 5th down, and scored a touchdown n a quarterback keeper, to win, 33-31. That win, which they refused to forfeit, was certified by the NCAA. They already had a loss and a tie, but still ended up winning the Big Eight and National Championships, neither of which they deserved.
It had been half a century, minus a few weeks, since Cornell's forfeit, and a few people involved in that game were still alive, so it was brought up as an example. But Colorado head coach Bill McCartney, so loud in his evangelical Christian faith, did not do the honorable thing and forfeit, the way Carl Snavely had done 50 years before.
In 2006, ESPN published The ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, which named Cornell's concession the 2nd-greatest moment in college football history. Number 1 was Notre Dame's 1928 win over Army, following coach Knute Rockne's halftime "Win one for the Gipper" speech. That shouldn't surprise anyone, given that the Encyclopedia was edited by Beano Cook, a University of Pittsburgh graduate, but one who, on the air, made no secret of his love of Notre Dame.
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November 16, 1940 was a Saturday. These other notable college football games were played that day:
* Number 1 Minnesota beat Purdue, 33-6 at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Minnesota won the Big Ten Conference, and were named National Champions by the AP.
* Number 3 Texas A&M beat Rice, 25-0 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. A&M won the Southwest Conference and the Cotton Bowl.
* Number 4 Stanford beat Number 19 Oregon State, 28-14 at the old Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California. Stanford won the Pacific Coast Conference and the Rose Bowl, and were named National Champions by some polling organizations.
* Number 5 Tennessee beat Virginia, 41-14 at Shields-Watkins Field (later renamed Neyland Stadium) in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee won the Southeastern Conference.
* Number 6 Michigan beat Number 10 Northwestern, 20-13 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
* Number 7 Notre Dame were upset by Iowa, 7-0 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
* Number 8 Boston College beat Number 9 Georgetown, 19-18 at Fenway Park in Boston. BC went on to beat Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl, and claimed the National Championship, but most sources gave it to Minnesota or Stanford.
* In a rivalry game, Number 12 Duke were upset by North Carolina, 6-3 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
* In what would later, but not yet, be considered a major rivalry game, Florida beat the University of Miami, 46-6 at Burdine Stadium (later the Orange Bowl) in Miami.
* In a rivalry game between Catholic schools on opposite sides of San Francisco Bay, St. Mary's beat the University of San Francisco, 13-7 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.
* Army lost to the University of Pennsylvania, 48-0 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
* Among New York City teams, New York University (NYU) lost to Penn State, 25-0 at Beaver Field in State College, Pennsylvania; while Columbia played Navy to a 0-0 tie at Baker Field; and Manhattan College lost to Villanova, 13-6 at the Polo Grounds.
* And among New Jersey teams, Princeton beat Yale, 10-7 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton; while Rutgers beat St. Lawrence, 20-0 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.
Baseball was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. Two games were played in the NHL. The New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings played to a tie, 3-3 at the old Madison Square Garden. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
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