Infamous 5th Down Game Stull Was Involved In Remembered 20 Years Later

With Colorado and Missouri set to meet Saturday at Farout Field in Columbia, Mo., much attention will be given to the 20th anniversary of the infamous “fifth down game” between the two played at that very stadium, according to AOL’s FanHouse.

It seemed bizarre at the time and seems even more odd now but the Big Eight officiating crew allowed then 12th-ranked Colorado five downs on its final drive that paved the way for a controversial 33-31 Buffaloes win.

Current Missouri coach Gary Pinkel was thousands of miles away working as an assistant at Washington in 1990, but he might as well have been on the sidelines that afternoon because he was good friends with Tigers head coach Bob Stull.

Pinkel recalls Stull reaching out to him not long after being victimized by that Big Eight officiating crew.

“When I heard about it, I was mad that when they found out they made a mistake that they didn’t flip it and turn it around. I was upset about that,” Pinkel recalled this week. “I talked to Bob that night right after the game and he was … Those are career changing games. I don’t know if he had another one in its place. You win a game like that and your whole program changes.”

It’s hard to say the impact a win like that would have had on Missouri. But the repercussions of such a deflating loss seemed swift. The Tigers, who won just two more games that year and went to finish 4-7, didn’t have a winning season until 1997 under Larry Smith and didn’t become a consistent winner again until Pinkel’s arrival.

Stull, who now the athletic director at UTEP, was 15-38-2 in five seasons at Missouri.

“It was just a strange, strange game in history,” Pinle said. “Unfortunately Bob Stull, a friend of mine, was a part of it. It probably changed their program.”

There have certainly been controversial endings since, but none rival the blunder the officiating crew made that afternoon that left many stunned. It’s highly unlikely with the sophistication instant replay has brought that such a mistake could be repeated today.

Pinkel is hopeful but not certain such a blunder couldn’t happen again.

“I would like to think that it couldn’t,” said Pinkel, whose team heads into its Big 12 opener Saturday 4-0 and ranked No. 24 in the country. “I would like to think that if there was any confusion that they would stop and with the replay now we have access to that you would go and make sure you get it right. You hear people around here talking about it and everybody kind of has their opinion. Some people say it was wrong. Other people say with replay they would never had scored a touchdown because replay would have helped them there, too.”

For a detailed recap, analysis and interviews on the infamous game 20 years ago, click here.