Everyone had their own view of the famous Fifth Down, and in Wednesday’s story I tried to include every pertinent opinion from those who witnessed that bizarre ending 20 years ago. Coaches. Players. Conference officials. Game officials. Boosters. I left out one very important view.
Mine.
I was on the sideline on that day, Oct. 6, 1990, when Colorado paved its way to its only national title by beating Missouri on the last play on, yes, a fifth down. I’ve heard every angle, excuse and explanation.
Here is what nearly everyone fails to add into the equation: Yes, Colorado ran five plays. But listen, people — Tigers, Missouri boosters, the guys at the corner bar in Baton Rouge — Colorado wasted two of them on spikes.
It seems fairly obvious that if Colorado knew it had only four downs, it wouldn’t have wasted two of them by spiking the ball. Unfortunately, that’s a lot more obvious than how the Fifth Down occurred.
I plead guilty. Like the vast majority of the crazed 40,000 fans at Faurot Field, the players and game officials, I didn’t know it was a fifth down until I was running for cover after the game.
Here’s what I saw:
With three minutes remaining, as is custom, the media left the press box for the sideline to avoid the crowd rush. Colorado led 27-24. Kent Kiefer’s 42-yard TD pass to Damon Mays gave Missouri a 31-27 lead with 2:32 left.
We all moved to the other end zone, waiting for Colorado’s eventual charge. Starting with first-and-goal from the 3, I dutifully took down my play-by-play:
1-G Spike
2-G Bieniemy +2 yards to 1-yard line
3-G Bieniemy +0 yards, 1-yard line
4-G Spike
As quarterback Charles Johnson and the players stood around waiting for the last play, I thought, “Wait a minute. That’s four downs. That can’t be right. Oh, wait. The down marker says ‘4.’ I must’ve confused the two spikes.”
Two plays earlier, linesman Ron Demaree was thinking the same thing. He had three fingers extended in his pocket, but referee J.C. Louderback didn’t signal 3 and the down marker behind Demaree remained at 2. If another down marker was on the other side of the field, as is the rule today, Demaree would’ve noticed it.
“We felt if we could’ve confirmed it, we would’ve tried to change it,” Demaree told me this week. “But we couldn’t confirm it. Everything fell through for us. All of our observers had already left the (press) box. They didn’t see the plays.”
Meanwhile, up in a near-empty press box, Tom Wheatley of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch knew exactly what down it was. Before the third play, press-box public address announcer Rod Kelly called out second-and-1.
According to Jack Watkins, the head statistician that day, Wheatley said, “Rod, that’s not right. You need to check the plays.” Watkins checked. Sure enough, the down marker was wrong.
So on the fifth play, possibly for the first time in college football history, the press box P.A. announcer proclaimed, “Fifth-and-goal from the 1.”
We all know what happened next. Johnson scooted in for a touchdown I don’t think anyone ever saw, and Colorado went on to win the national championship.
I wrote that day, “Yes, it is possible to stop 12th-ranked Colorado’s potent offense on four plays from the 3. But give this team a fifth down, and the Buffaloes are deadly.”
What happened next was something out of a “Mad Max” movie. Two-liter Coke bottles came flying out of the stands toward Colorado’s sideline. Missouri fans went from ripping down the goal posts to rioting on the AstroTurf.
One fan accidentally but severely kicked the head of a cop who fell trying to run interference for game officials running for their lives.
Afterward, outside Colorado’s locker room, coach Bill McCartney was screaming about the field conditions, his rant only interrupted by a Missouri fan yelling, “You’re a Christian, McCartney! Don’t lie!”
To this day I am not convinced Johnson scored. I think he was down on his back before he raised the ball over his head and over the goal line. However, I will never say the fifth down led to the win.
As McCartney told me last week, “If we hadn’t had three downs left, on third down we would’ve thrown it and run it on fourth down — or thrown it. You can really see that we were genuine in our intentions because no one would deliberately spike the ball on fourth down.”
True. This brings up another point, courtesy of Johnson who, as a Colorado assistant athletic director, couldn’t help but poke fun at Missouri as the Buffaloes return to the scene of the crime Saturday.
“By that math,” Johnson said with a smile, “Missouri owes us a down, right?”
Wolverines, Sparty have lots on line
Michigan-Michigan State doesn’t get much love in talk of bitter in-state rivalries. Michigan State didn’t join the 114-year-old Big Ten until 1953, and the two rivals usually play in October.
But Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich., this rivalry takes on special hatred. With both teams at 5-0, this is the first time since 1999 that they face each other with unbeaten records.
The subplots are numerous, and and one is not trying to keep pace with second-ranked Ohio State. A Michigan State win would give the Spartans their first three-game win streak over Michigan since 1965-67.
Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson, leading the nation in rushing at 181 yards per game, is an early the likely Heisman favorite, but he has yet to face a defense that could stop a frat float. Michigan State is 20th in the nation in rush defense (101.2 ypg).
Adding emotion to the drama, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, left, returns after sitting out two games nursing a blood clot in his leg in the aftermath of his heart attack. He’s not 100 percent, but he’ll coach from the press box. “You can’t keep me down Michigan week,” he told reporters.
John Henderson, The Denver Post
