Washington State’s ‘fifth down’ ruffles ASU fans’ feathers

In the second quarter of Arizona State’s game against Washington State Saturday, an inadvertent whistle served as both a game changer and  kindling for Twitter mayhem.

Washington State ran the ball on fourth down and ended up short of the first down. Luckily for the Cougars, an inadvertent whistle let WSU repeat that fourth down. That set up an 11-yard pass from Luke Falk to Dom Williams to make the score 14-10.

Washington State scored a TD on fifth down thanks to a Pac-12 ref's inadvertent whistle. https://t.co/FBsNxCXZF2 https://t.co/nzJZWAA6i0

— SB Nation CFB (@SBNationCFB) November 7, 2015

“The turning point was when they let them replay fourth down,” head coach Todd Graham said at halftime. “That was the turning point.”

Graham added he was given no explanation from the refs.

Needless to say, the “fifth down” got conversations going on social media.

What just happened?#ASUvsWSU

— Sun Devil Athletics (@TheSunDevils) November 7, 2015

Pac-12 officials…really really bad at their jobs.

— Vinny Joe ________ (@Vincemarotta) November 7, 2015

Too bad the Cougars don't have a signal for fifth down

— Sun Devil Football (@FootballASU) November 7, 2015

GET HIM pic.twitter.com/IYNe94Fb0o

— Jedi ASU (@JediASU) November 7, 2015

Confirmed: Official will be available to pool reporter after the game to explain the controversial "fifth down" in ASU-WSU game. Stay tuned

— Paola Boivin (@PaolaBoivin) November 7, 2015

Third Down Conversions
ASU – 5-9, Washington State 3-10
Fifth Down Conversions
WSU – 1-1, ASU 0-0

— House of Sparky (@HouseOfSparky) November 7, 2015

Referee Mark Duddy explains what happened on WSU's fourth-down do-over vs. ASU pic.twitter.com/QPSyZXAxvL

— Stefanie Loh (@StefanieLoh) November 8, 2015