A rabbit ran onto the field during Friday night's college football matchup between the Northwestern Wildcats and visiting Duke Blue Devils.
It happened at the 10:54 mark of the third quarter as Northwestern had 3rd-and-3 on the Duke 38 yard line while holding a 10-7 lead. As play was stopped briefly due to a clock issue, the rabbit found its way into the end zone and started running around in the grass.
Northwestern mascot Willie the Wildcat was on the case. As the bunny stopped to look around near the back line of the end zone, Willie lined himself up between the rabbit and the goal line as if he was playing defense to prevent the rabbit from interrupting play on the field. As Willie took a few steps toward the rabbit, it ran towards the middle of the field and out the back of the end zone.
BUNNY ON THE FIELD, WILLIE THE WILDCAT ATTEMPTS TO CORRAL IT AND THEN NORTHWESTERN FUMBLES ALL IN A SPAN OF 40 SECONDS pic.twitter.com/yuK2RdvjCM
— 🇸🇲 Sickos Committee 🇸🇲 (@SickosCommittee) September 7, 2024
It was all over in the span of about 30 seconds, and play on the field was not interrupted, unlike some incidents we have seen recently where animals running on the field force a play stoppage and cause chaos.
Unfortuantely, on the very next offensive play, Northwestern fumbled the ball and Duke recovered, so in this case, the rabbit definitively did NOT bring good luck to the Wildcats.
Northwestern is playing in a temporary stadium this year while their new stadium is being built. We would guess it will be more difficult for rabbits to find their way onto the field next year when they start playing there.
The game was a thriller as it went into two overtimes, but Duke pulled out the 26-20 victory.
[@SickosCommittee]
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
