The Holiday Bowl bills itself as "America's Most Exciting Bowl Game."
The Arizona Wildcats should fit right in.
The UA's 2009 season was as entertaining as any in recent memory.
During their 12-game regular season, the Wildcats won a game on a muffed punt and lost games on a kicked ball and an illegal forward pass.
They toppled USC in the Los Angeles Coliseum and had their hearts broken by Oregon in double overtime.
Mixed in were enough highs and lows to erode even the calmest fan's stomach lining.
"Every game had its weird plays," quarterback Nick Foles said. "To be a part of them on a team when it happens, it's crazy. Every game, you leave thinking, 'Wow, that was a crazy ending.' "
Here are 10 plays that made the Wildcats' season:
1. The Trojan-killer. Arizona was trailing USC 17-14 with 4 minutes remaining when Foles and Juron Criner connected on the most memorable play of the season.
Foles checked from a short pass into a deep one on first-and-10 from the Trojans' 36, and found Criner in man-to-man, press coverage. The Wildcats' receiver jumped over USC's Josh Pinkard, made the catch and stumbled into the end zone.
The long touchdown strike gave Arizona a 21-17 lead that held. Arizona's first win over USC since 2000, and seventh over the Trojans in program history, assured the UA of its best regular season since 1998. The Wildcats accepted a Holiday Bowl berth hours after the game.
Foles called the touchdown strike the highlight of his season.
"That whole last drive at USC showed how much heart we have and how much we've grown up as a team," he said.
2. The inaccurate deflection. The UA's first Pac-10 loss of the season came with a season's worth of controversy.
The Wildcats were leading Washington 33-29 when Foles threw a pass that appeared to skip off wide receiver Delashaun Dean's left cleat and into the hands of Huskies linebacker Mason Foster, who returned it 37 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
The call was upheld by video replay, and the Huskies won 36-33.
Take away the fluke ending, and Arizona would have improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play. In retrospect, the disputed kick kept the Wildcats out of the Rose Bowl.
Senior safety Cam Nelson still gets worked up talking about it.
"The fluke call, the one that actually hit the ground when the ref said it didn't. The one that could have made us tied for the Pac-10 championship, the one that would have gotten us one," he said. "That was the biggest play of the season."
3. The Tempe turnover. The Wildcats edged rival Arizona State on Nov. 28 on another fluke play. Arizona's Mike Turner recovered Kyle Williams' muff with 1 minute 3 seconds remaining, setting up Alex Zendejas' game-winning, 32-yard field goal as time expired.
Arizona won the Territorial Cup battle 20-17.
The game was tied when the UA's Keenyn Crier boomed a punt toward Williams, who had caught the game-tying touchdown pass just 59 seconds earlier. Williams took his eye off the kick, and the ball bounced off his hands and onto the turf. Turner scooped it up, setting up another gut-wrenching finish.
"I don't know how much more I can take," UA coach Mike Stoops said after the game. "It's a lot of difference three points can make in your life."
4. Foles' flub. Foles made the biggest mistake of his career on Nov. 14, when - with Arizona driving on California late in the game - he inadvertently threw two forward passes on the same play.
The Wildcats trailed Cal by two points late in the game when Foles dropped back and attempted a short pass, only to watch it glance off a Golden Bears defender and back into his hands. Foles rolled right and threw it forward again - this time for a completion to Dean.
Foles was flagged for an illegal forward pass from the spot of the penalty, moving Arizona back to Cal's 39-yard line. The Wildcats scrapped a go-ahead field goal attempt in favor of a pass play, and the attempt was broken up. Cal scored again, and won 24-16.
5. Trevin tames the beast. Sophomore cornerback Trevin Wade sealed an Oct. 17 win over Stanford with one of the most impressive plays of his young career. The Cardinal trailed by 5 points with 28 seconds remaining when, on fourth-and-10 from the Arizona 17, quarterback Andrew Luck threw a perfect fade pass toward receiver Chris Owusu in the back of the end zone.
Wade, who gives up 3 inches and 30 pounds to Owusu, leapt at the perfect time and knocked the ball away. Arizona won 43-38.
6. Six seconds away. Hundreds of Zona Zoo members stood on the Arizona Stadium sidelines, prepared to party, when Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli dashed the Wildcats' hopes of a Rose Bowl berth. Masoli connected with tight end Ed Dickson on an 8-yard touchdown pass with 6 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, then won the game with a 1-yard dive in the second overtime period.
The win put Oregon in the driver's seat for the Pac-10 title; the Ducks then beat rival Oregon State a week later to lock up a Rose Bowl appearance.
7. Cobb parties like it's 1998. Arizona snapped an 11-year drought on Nov. 7 when Travis Cobb returned the game's opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. No UA player had returned a kickoff for a score since Chris McAlister took the opening boot of the 1998 season for a touchdown at Hawaii.
Cobb's return set the tone for a 48-7 win over Washington State at Arizona Stadium.
8. Making them cry. Punter Crier was most valuable player in Arizona's 37-32 win over Oregon State on Sept. 26.
Three times in the fourth quarter - and twice in the final three minutes - Crier pinned the Beavers at their 3-yard line.
Arizona turned the field-position flips into a touchdown, an interception and a safety.
Crier was rewarded with a game ball, the ultimate reward for a game-changing player.
9. The missile. Arizona and Oregon were tied 24-24 with 7:55 remaining in regulation when Criner took a play, fittingly called "missile," 71 yards for a touchdown.
Criner juked Ducks safety Javes Lewis, then split cornerbacks Cliff Harris and Talmadge Jackson III on the way to the team's longest scoring play from scrimmage of the season. The sold-out crowd at Arizona Stadium roared.
10. Grigsby jacks NAU. Nicolas Grigsby registered the longest run of his college career in a 34-17 win over Northern Arizona in Week 2. Running a play called Black Right 37 to perfection, the Wildcats' tailback dashed 94 yards before being shoved out of bounds at the 1-yard line.
Grigsby finished an otherwise sloppy game with 207 yards and two touchdowns.
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