Fifth Down Game (1940)
| The Fifth Down Game | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| Date | November 16, 1940 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1940 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Memorial Field | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Hanover, N.H. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Fifth Down Game is a college football game that was conceded by the victor after films confirmed that errors by the game officials had allowed an unpermitted fifth down as the last play of the game.
In American football, a team is allowed four attempts or "downs" to move the ball 10 yards (9.14 m) or towards the goal line. If the offense moves ten yards in four attempts or fewer, it gains a "first down," which restarts the process. If, after four attempts, the offense has neither scored nor gained ten yards, the other team is given possession of the ball. Under normal circumstances (for example, excluding penalties which can involve replaying a down), no team is supposed to be allowed five attempts.
Cornell entered the contest with 18 straight victories over a two-year period.
Dartmouth would manage to hold off Cornell's offense for nearly the entire low-scoring game. Dartmouth scored first, achieving a field goal for three points in the fourth quarter.
Finally, with less than a minute left in the game, Cornell got the ball on Dartmouth's six-yard line. Cornell expected to have four chances to win the game. On its first down, fullback Mort Landsberg gained three yards. On its second down, Cornell halfback Walt Scholl managed to run the ball to the one-yard line. On the third down, Mort Landsberg tried to run up the middle but did not gain more than a few inches. On the fourth down, Cornell was penalized for delay of game, and Referee Red Friesell spotted the ball just over the 5-yard line in order to replay the fourth down. With nine seconds left on the clock, quarterback "Pop" Scholl threw an incomplete pass into the end zone. Normally, the ball would have gone to Dartmouth, which would have used up the remaining seconds and won the game, 3–0.
But following the fourth down, Linesman Joe McKenny signaled that it was first down and that the ball should go to Dartmouth at the 20 yard line. Referee Friesell did not agree and gave the ball to Cornell and placed it on the six-yard line on fourth down when in actuality it was "fifth" down. Making the most of the unexpected opportunity, quarterback Scholl threw a touchdown pass to William Murphy, and following the extra-point kick, Cornell won the game 7–3.
Officials discovered their error after reviewing the game films. Cornell's players, coach Carl Snavely, acting athletic director Bob Kane, and President Edmund Ezra Day, a Dartmouth alumnus, agreed that Cornell should send a telegram to Dartmouth offering to forfeit the game. Dartmouth accepted.
...
Wikipedia