A local Lubbock opossum was just trying to live his best life at Thursday’s college football game between Texas Tech and TCU. It did not appreciate being removed from the stadium.
Lubbock is a northwest Texas city of just under 300,000 and home to the Red Raiders. Most opossums are not native to the Lone Star State. There is a lot of similar wildlife, like raccoons, hares, squirrels, etc.
There are very few opossums in Texas. The same cannot be said about Lubbock. The Virginia opossum – also known as the North American opossum – reside in Lubbock.
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One of the opossums decided that the Horned Frogs coming to town was a big enough deal to make an appearance at Jones A&T Stadium. It didn’t make it in time for kickoff and was on its way out before the first quarter came to an end, but not by choice. By force.
The opossum pushed its limits during the second quarter.
After getting onto the field, it went streaking. It was STRUTTING down the field, having its moment.
Although the opossum wasn’t harming anyone, the game had to get back underway. A group of staffers came out to get the furry animal out of the field of play.
When they approached, the opossum played, well, it played it played opossum. They were able to scoop up the marsupial with some sort of tong-like piece of machinery.
The opossum was NOT happy about it and threw a hissy fit.
Texas Tech jumped out to a 17-7 lead early, so perhaps it was a rally opossum. It would not be the first! LSU had one at Alex Box Stadium back in 2016.
By all accounts, though, the Red Raiders are the first college football team to have one pull up and storm the field. Arkansas had one in the stands last season, it just didn’t run on the field.