Mike Kafka stars in genuinely Kafkaesque Northwestern defeat

Auburn 38, Northwestern 35 (OT). If you had written some unwieldy script to the Outback Bowl leading up to its final play -- a narrative in which Northwestern quarterback Mike Kafka throws five interceptions but also accounts for 562 total yards and five touchdowns while leading the underdog Wildcats from a two-touchdown deficit in the final minutes of the fourth quarter; in which the Wildcats send the game to overtime on a trick two-point conversion pass by a senior wide receiver who had attempted just one pass since being moved from quarterback with a 0:4 touchdown:interception ratio as a freshman; in which the 'Cats watch Auburn storm the field in celebration of apparent victory twice in a span of three plays in overtime, only to be sent back to the bench both times as Northwestern's hopes were restored -- it could only work as the most fantastic kind of pure, slow-motion Hollywood absurdity. And in Hollywood, it would have all been prelude to a dramatic, uplifting Wildca...