The Loop
The 2018 Cheez-It Bowl was the best-worst bowl game ever
Christian Petersen
If you watched the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl, we want to say that the holidays can be a difficult time for many people and we're here for you. We would also like you to know, however, that we are very, VERY jealous, because according to sources, you may well have witnessed the best worst bowl game in the very spotty history of bowl games.
On a day when a game was flat-out cancelled after three minutes, the Cheez-It Bowl was the biggest disaster by some margin. At first blush, the box score seems to tell the story—a 10-7 defensive slugfest that culminated in an a dramatic OT walk-off to win it.
To stop there, though, would completely undermine the sheer bumbling absurdity of a game named after a cracker. There were more interceptions in the game (9) than Cal had points...including this Philly Not-So-Special:
Oh, and two of those picks CAME ON ILLEGAL THROWS:
Both teams ended the game with their backup QBs under center, including Chase Forrest, who's biggest claim to fame is being loyal to a fault.
TCU had 28 yards of passing all night, and STILL won the game, which hit the under on its paltry over/under of 38.5 by almost two touchdowns. But that isn't even the best part. The best part, per SOP, was saved for last—after Gary Patterson pulled kicker Cole Bunce when Cal iced his potential game-winning field goal at the end of regulation, put in Jonathan Song, and then pulled Song and replaced him with Bunce all in the span of 15 seconds. Bunce then missed the field goal.
Then, on the first possession of overtime, Cal threw ANOTHER interception, which TCU returned all the way to the 10 yard line to set up a guaranteed chip-shot field goal to win it...except TCU's sports information director, in all the excitement, somehow ended up lying on the field on his back, incurring a penalty that backed TCU all the way to the 40 yard line. No, we're not making this up. We couldn't if we tried:
Mercifully, Patterson then brought on Song—the would-be replacement kicker from minutes earlier—who hammered both the field goal and the final nail in the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl coffin. Til next year, ya cheesy bastards...