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.
Background
In American football, a team is allowed four attempts or "downs" to move the ball 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, 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. Following the fourth down, linesman Joe McKenney signaled that it was first down and that the ball should go to Dartmouth at the 20 yard line. Referee Friesell thought it was now fourth down, and placing the ball on the six-yard line and granting Cornell a "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. Dartmouth
The forfeit
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. If the schools had not agreed, it is unclear how the dispute would have been resolved. Friesell admitted his mistake to the Eastern Intercollegiate Football Association, but acknowledged that his authority "ceased at the close of the game". Similarly, the association's role was to schedule the referees, not to review or overturn game results. College football's only "official" record books at the time were kept by private publishers, based on information provided by individual schools. The New York Times compared the Fifth Down Game to a 1922 contest between Columbia and New York University where the schools disagreed on whether the deciding play counted as a touchdown or a safety. The newspaper noted that, as of 1940, both schools continued to claim that game as a win, and at least one record book publisher compromised by listing it as a Columbia win on Columbia's page, and an NYU win on NYU's page.
Aftermath
Although there is some doubt whether the 1940 Cornell forfeit was "official" according to NCAA rules, the game is regarded as a 3–0 Dartmouth victory, instead of a 7–3 triumph by Cornell. This was described in press accounts as the only time in the history of football that a game was decided off the field. The New York Times NFL sports blog "The Fifth Down" is named in part after the incident in this game.
