20 college football moments that deserve to be made into movies
By John Buhler
6. Five Downs
If you look back in the history books, there are two national champions during the 1990 NCAA season: the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Colorado Buffaloes. Georgia Tech was outstanding under Bobby Ross for a time there, but we’re going to talk about the strange game that helped give the Buffaloes a share of the time: The Fifth Down Game.
Back in early October, then Big Eight rivals Colorado and the Missouri Tigers would square off at Faurot Field in Columbia. Colorado already had one loss on the year and was 3-1-1 as a team that fall. The Buffaloes were down late to the Tigers late in the game when a completed pass near the goal line eventually led to all sorts of confusion.
Colorado quarterback Charles Johnson would hit tight end Jon Boman for a first-down completion. Johnson would scurry to the new line of scrimmage to spike the ball on first down to stop the clock. What happened simultaneously was odd. The officials didn’t change the down markers after the spike.
In the midst of on-field chaos, the Buffaloes had the ultimate poker face to convince the officials that it only took four downs for them to eventually punch it in for the game winning touchdown in five downs. Colorado wouldn’t lose the rest of the year and would claim a share of the national title with Georgia Tech at the end of the season.
Feeling pressure to forfeit the win, Colorado head coach Bill McCartney decided against it and blamed the Missouri grounds crew for a lousy playing surface. Players were slipping all over the field on that Saturday afternoon. Being able to win in this fashion will never be replicated. This is what happens when you live in a world without the internet. You get five downs to beat Missouri in their house and turn it into a championship.