Northwestern mascot chases wild rabbit across field during 3rd quarter vs. Duke

There was an unexpected guest at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium on Friday night. In the third quarter of Duke and Northwestern‘s Week 2 showdown, a rabbit temporarily forced the game to stop when it ran across the field.

Only adding to the ridiculousness, Northwestern’s mascot, Willie the Wildcat, chased the happy-hopping rabbit through the end zone. It wasn’t the football fans paid to see but it was undoubtedly entertaining. The game resumed shortly after the rabbit was removed from the field.

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The most entertaining play in Duke vs Northwestern

pic.twitter.com/kcuTMrjVod

— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) September 7, 2024

Jim Phillips makes bold statement about the ACC

There has been much speculation about what the future of the ACC will look like, with the SEC and Big Ten’s new media rights deal being implemented this fall.

While the ACC is stuck in its media deal with ESPN until 2036, they are one of four power conferences that added new programs into their ranks this season. For the ACC, SMU, Cal and Stanford joined the fray as new conference members. 

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Looking ahead at the future, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips explained why he’s excited about the direction his conference is heading.

“We’ve never been stronger as a league,” Phillips said during an appearance on SportsCenter. “Again, if you take a look at results — when you take a look at the financial results, we distributed over $700 million, a record, to our institutions.

“We won more national championships over the last three years than any conference in the country. We have some of the elite academic institutions, again, across the United States and across the world. We have also been very innovative. We have a success initiative plan this year that will allow teams that do well in the league in the sports of football and basketball, to have additional dollars distributed to them, in an unequal fashion for the first time. 

“I am totally bullish about the future of the ACC. We will work through these legal issues. But that can’t continue to be the narrative. It just can’t be. Because I think people are missing a really good story called, ‘ACC sports. ACC football and success that everyone’s having.”

On3’s Barkley Truax also contributed to this story.