Twenty-five years ago this season, the Colorado Buffaloes won their only national title in football. On the heels of a 11-1-1 season, capped by a 10-9 victory over Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, CU captured a championship, topping the AP poll at year’s end.
But it almost didn’t happen. There were several moments that nearly derailed the dream, including a 31-31 tie in the opener against Tennessee, a 23-22 loss in week three at 21st-ranked Illinois and the infamous clip that negated Raghib Ismail’s game-winning punt return in the bowl game.
Nothing came as close to ending the quest for a title, however, as the Buffs game in Missouri. They struggled all day with the unranked Tigers, slipping and sliding their way all over a horrendous Faurot Field and finding themselves down 31-27 in the waning moments of the game. With less than three minutes to play, CU had one last drive, with backup quarterback Charles Johnson at the helm.
With 40 seconds to play, Johnson completed a pass to tight end Jon Boman to set up a goal-to-go situation. On first down, the quarterback spiked the ball to stop the clock. The ensuing play was an Eric Bieniemy run, which was stopped short of the goal line. CU called their final timeout.
At this point, it should have been third down. However, the referees failed to switch the down marker, which read second down. Colorado’s coaching staff confirmed the down and distance with the officials, who reiterated that it was second down. This is the key to the entire scenario, as it impacted CU’s play calling.
On the next play, the Buffs again tried a run to Bieniemy; the All-American running back was again stopped short. As the clocked ticked away, Johnson spiked the ball with two seconds left to give Colorado one final play. This time, Johnson kept the ball himself, sneaking past the goal line for the game-winning touchdown on the final play of the game.
In hindsight, the referees realized their mistake. After the Boman catch, the Buffs had run five plays. But contrary to popular belief they didn’t take five shots at the end zone. The game book tells the story:
Play 1 – Spike the ball
Play 2 – Bieniemy run
Play 3 – Bieniemy run
Play 4 – Spike the ball
Play 5 – Johnson run (touchdown)
The reality is that CU only attempted three actual plays; they spiked the ball twice. And had they been told the correct down after the first Bieniemy run, when the confirmed the officials that it was second down and not third down, they would have changed their strategy. There’s no way Colorado would have run the ball had they known it was third down, given that they had no timeouts and would have been unable to stop the clock. Clearly, the Buffs strategy would not have called for a spike on fourth down.
Did the officials blow the call? Sure; there’s no denying it. But is that why CU won the game? Absolutely not. Had the Buffaloes been told that it was third down instead of second, they would have passed the ball on third down and then had one final play to try to win the game; so in essence, they would have had two shots at the end zone, which is no different than how things played out.
The only “extra” play was a spike to stop the clock. And had the CU coaches not been given bad information, they wouldn’t have needed that attempt. The blunder occurred when the refs misinformation impacted the Buffaloes strategy, not when they allowed the fifth down to occur.
That’s not how the game is remembered, however. Instead, it’s seen as Colorado making five attempts at the end zone, with the referees unable to count to five. Those who actually watched the game know that’s not the case.
Unfortunately, those who didn’t watch the game but would prefer to simply take potshots at the Buffaloes – looking at you Tom Osborne, who kept CU from winning a unanimous national title by snubbing Colorado in the coaches’ poll – just read the headline and run with it. But it’s worth knowing the actual story.
