Fifth Down Game (1990) - Aftermath

Aftermath

Colorado football coach Bill McCartney, a former Missouri Tigers player, did little to soothe the controversy. Asked whether he would consider forfeiting the game, McCartney declared that he had considered it but decided against it because "the field was lousy." He complained about the unusually slick Omniturf artificial turf surface, which he said had caused repeated slips and falls during the game. It is alleged that Missouri purposely did not put sand on the field in order to make it slippery, and that their players, knowing this in advance, wore longer spikes on their shoes to compensate (Colorado did not know this and had to make do with shorter spikes).

The Big Eight...ruled that Colorado's 33–31 victory over Missouri would stand even though game officials allowed the Buffaloes a fifth down that produced the winning touchdown on the game's final play. Missouri's chancellor, Haskell Monroe Jr., had appealed to the Big Eight, asking that Missouri be declared the winner. "It has been determined that, in accordance with the football playing rules, the allowance of the fifth down to Colorado is not a post-game correctable error," Carl James, the Big Eight commissioner, said in a statement. "The final score in the Colorado-Missouri football game will remain as posted."

Closure came in the summer of 1998—four years after McCartney retired as the Buffs head coach—when he admitted to making mistakes and being saddened by the Fifth Down fiasco. McCartney made the remarks at a Promise Keepers gathering at the site of the controversy in Columbia, Missouri.

The seven man Big Eight Conference officiating team was suspended indefinitely following the contest.