50 years later, ‘5th down’ loss at Miami still remembered at Tulane

We are approaching the half century mark of a memorable but painful anniversary for the Tulane Green Wave.

In 1972, game officials literally snatched defeat from the jaws of victory for the Olive and Blue.

Tulane and second-year head coach Bennie Ellender had just beaten Pitt, 38-6, the week before facing the Miami Hurricanes. The Wave was coasting along with a 3-1 record with Boston College (10-0) and 16th-ranked Georgia (24-13) as other previous victims. Tulane finished the ’72 campaign 6-5 but came within a whisker of having an 8-3 mark.

In a 9-3 loss to LSU in the season finale, Tulane fullback Russell Huber was denied one foot short of the goalline as time expired. That heartbreaker may have surpassed the first one that season for the Green Wave because of the rivalry but the Miami game has its own special place in college football history.

The visit to Orange Bowl Stadium featured a matchup against an ordinary Hurricanes team that finished 1972 with a 5-6 mark. Miami did almost engineer a memorable upset but fell just short to 10th-ranked Notre Dame, 20-17.

The Hurricanes were led by future NFL star Chuck Foreman who accumulated 1,555 total yards that year. He formed a dynamic duo with Woody Thompson at running back for head coach Fran Curci.

Witt Beckman, a 6-foot-2 receiver, was Miami’s leading passing targe, averaging 18 yards per grab.

The Miami defense was sprinkled with talent. Nose tackle Ruben Carter spent 12 seasons with the Denver Broncos while Burgess Owens played 10 NFL seasons in the secondary with the Jets and Raiders. Another defensive back on the Hurricane roster, Mike Archer, would become LSU’s head coach 15 years later.

Tulane had their own stars including a defense led by a trio of linebackers. Mike Mullen had 162 tackles in 1971 while Rusty Chambers was the leading stopper in ’73 with 153 tackles. Glenn Harder totaled 116 stops for the defense in ’72. Defensive back David Lee added five interceptions that season.

As for the game in question (still to this day), the Wave held a 21-17 lead late in the fourth period and appeared headed for victory. The defense proved challenging for the Miami offense and quarterback Ed Carney.

The ‘Canes were driving and reached the Tulane red zone. On third down and eight at the 16-yard line, Carney hit Foreman for an 11-yard completion, but the play was nullified by a five-yard penalty for illegal procedure. On the third down do-over, Carney was dropped for an 11-yard loss.

On fourth down and 24 yard to go at the Tulane 32-yard line, Carney tried to locate Phil Corrigan but overthrew him.

Game over, right? No, the game officials awarded another down to the Hurricanes, obviously confused having lost track of the downs following the penalty for illegal procedure. No game officials or chain gang members seemed to realize the mistake.

Ellender didn’t even seem to understand what had happened. One member of the Tulane staff who appeared to catch the error was defensive line coach Tony Misita, who was boiling mad on the sideline. It was said Misita had to be restrained.

Tulane quarterback Steve Foley knew what should have happened. He was headed for the field on what he expected to be a turnover on downs but was told to return to the sideline.

“I had run onto the field. I had followed the game and knew it was fourth down,” Foley explained. “Maybe Bennie Ellender should have called time out. I was paying attention. The referees said it was fourth down (again), and Coach Ellender was yelling at me to get off the field. We were all in shock.”

Eventually, Foley crossed paths with some of the Miami players who played in the game. He was told but couldn’t confirm that the Hurricane players all voted to award Tulane a victory for that game, but Curci refused.

Miami had lost eight straight games dating back to the previous season so Curci was going to take victory any way he could get it.

“Most of the Tulane coaches didn’t catch the mistake,” recalled Mark Olivari, a freshman nose tackle for the Wave in 1972. “I kicked off. It was a heartbreaking loss. There was total confusion on the sideline. There was bedlam.”

The officials did themselves no favors. There was no conference between the coaches and the officiating crew. “The referee didn’t stop the game,” said Olivari.

Mike Trapani, who was part of Tulane defensive end rotation with Randy Lee and Mike Truax, remembers the game as a hard fought battle in which the Wave defense stepped up when necessary.

“It was close throughout. We were not supposed to win in their backyard,” Trapani stated. “We tried a Hail Mary pass at the end that went incomplete. (Our) coaches didn’t seem to catch what had happened.”

Oh, I didn’t mention what happened on the infamous fifth down. Of course, you can guess the outcome.

Carney found Witt Beckman for a 32-yard touchdown hookup to give Miami a 24-21 lead with just 1:05 remaining after Mike Burke’s extra point conversion.

Three years later, Foley with former Tulane wide receiver Steve Barrios and Wave defesnive lineman Charlie Hall found themselves in the same locker room Beckman. The quartet were now members of the Jacksonville Express in the short-lived WFL.

One day while in the receiver’s meeting room, Beckman said he couldn’t believe the referees let his Hurricanes run another play.

University of Miami was asked to forfeit the ’72 game but declined. Even Tulane’s 11th president at the time, Dr. Herbert E. Longenecker (1960-1975), got involved in the debate but to no avail.

What goes around comes around, at least for the “winning” coach that day.

Eight seasons later on November 1, 1980, Fran Curci was coaching at Kentucky. In fact, he had left Miami for Lexington in the 1973 offseason.

Curci brought his Wildcats to the Superdome to face a 5-3 Tulane team coached by Vince Gibson.

In the waning moments, Tulane drove 90 yards aided by two pass interference calls. The drive concluded with Vince Manalla’s game-winning field goalthat gave the Green Wave a 24-22 victory.

“Everyone thought it was karma,” Barrios said with a hearty chuckle.