Wednesday night’s Cheez-It Bowl was one of the most ridiculous football games ever played. The TCU Horned Frogs eventually beat the California Golden Bears 10-7 in overtime, but it almost didn’t get there. The game featured nine combined interceptions, tied for third in NCAA history, and six in the first half, the most in any game this season. And two of those picks weren’t even legal passes:

We were somewhere around Phoenix, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. Even the bowl’s social media account got in on the Cheez-INT Bowl fun:

ESPN did just that. Here’s John Buccigross’ SportsCenter recap of those first-half picks, complete with NFL Films soundtrack:

And the game got stranger from there. At one point, Cal switched quarterbacks, leading to the only two senior Power Five quarterbacks still at their first school without starting a game facing each other. (Screencap via Jason Kirk of SB Nation.)

Chase Forrest

Meanwhile, TCU scored a touchdown at the end of the third quarter on a run that was initially thought to be short and the quarter’s final play. But a review ruled RB Sewo Olonilua was in, sending the game back to the third quarter for the extra point. And running was about all the offense TCU found all night, with Olonilua finishing with 194 yards on 32 carries and primary QB Muelstein finishing seven for 20 for 27 yards with four interceptions (and he only had eight passing yards before the final drive of the fourth quarter.). And even the way this game went to overtime was absurd, with TCU first sending out kicker Jonathan Song, then pulling him for Cole Bunce after Cal called timeout. Bunce missed a 44-yard field goal, the game went to overtime, and even a chain that emphasizes sending games to overtime wasn’t feeling that:

Amazingly, in overtime, things got even more dumb. The ninth interception of the game came from Cal’s Forrest, and TCU’s Jawaun Johnson almost took it back for a pick-six. It looked like Johnson could have have ended this game with a score, but 6’6”, 330-pound Cal tackle Jake Curhan somehow managed to track him down at the 15-yard line:

But that wouldn’t have worked even if Johnson had gotten into the end zone, as the play would have been nullified thanks to sideline interference…from a TCU staffer tripping over the down marker?

That penalty led to TCU having to start their own possession at the 40 instead of the 25. And as per both Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and William Wilkerson of The Dallas Morning News, that staffer was TCU associate director for athletics/sports information director Mark Cohen, a long-time SID (he received a CoSIDA 25-Year Service Award in 2014). It’s not every day you see an SID inadvertently committing a potentially-crucial penalty. But TCU overcame that field position with a couple of runs (and amazingly, a four-yard Muehlstein pass that wasn’t intercepted), and their other kicker, Song, ended the game with a 27-yard field goal:

And this led to many Cheez-Its and much rejoicing:

This was a long way from the best-played bowl game this year, but man, it’s going to be one of the most memorable.

[SB Nation]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.