Right now, God loves Northwestern football. If that's not obvious enough with the 'Cats riding a three-game winning streak, it is when you realize that three NU players have took to social media to predict their own interceptions, and every time, their predictions have come true.
Hey @EliasSports -
— #B1GCats Football (@NUFBFamily) October 22, 2016
The #B1GCats secondary is now 3-for-3 this season on predicting interceptions.
That's totally a legit stat, right? pic.twitter.com/oGR6WmNmlW
This is not a joke. There is almost certainly something divine happening in Evanston right now, and it might not be an isolated event. Have there been other times when a higher power has intervened with NU athletics? NBN Sports investigates:
Kyle Queiro’s one-handed miracle - Evan Denton
For the Northwestern football team, if you want to make a top-notch defensive play, the most direct way to talk to God is through subtweets and using the outstretched hands emoji the night before a game.
The Wildcats played the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday, but Kyle Queiro posted his tweet on Friday. The junior sported a club on his left hand during the game, making an interception almost impossible. But then, it happened.
Almost as if he was trying to high five God mid-game. And if you look closely in the replay, you can even see God’s breath coming from the left side and moving the football from Indiana’s Ricky Jones’ path and placing it directly into Queiro’s right hand. You can’t make this stuff up.
Does God hate Northwestern basketball? - Trevor Lystad
Since the men’s basketball team’s inception in 1901, God has been playing a key role in the struggles of Wildcats basketball, and considering how the man upstairs has treated the ‘Cats, they must have committed at least two or three of the seven deadly sins. I mean, c’mon, what egregious acts were committed to warrant a 1-7 record against the Evanston YMCA?
Of all 89 teams in power-seven conferences (ACC, A-10, Big East, B1G, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC), only Northwestern has never made the tournament. NU might not be a basketball school, but if Fairleigh Dickinson made the tournament last year, it must take divine intervention to keep the ‘Cats out.
Fortunately, the team took a trip to confessional during the offseason, and the Lord is smiling down upon them, declaring that the Wildcats will make the NCAA tournament for the first time this season - as long as head coach Chris Collins tweets at God asking for a win before every game. That's a fact, folks.
The Hail Mary - Max Goodman
Up three with four seconds left, Nebraska's ball at midfield. What could possibly go wrong for the ‘Cats? Northwestern was one defensive stop away from taking down the Cornhuskers on the road, but on a Hail Mary heave as the clock hit double zeroes, textbook divine intervention, the ball found Jordan Westerkamp in the back of the end zone to clinch a 27-24 victory.
After a crushing loss like this one, NU fans could only sit back and ask ‘why?’ Was it because a NU defensive back accidently tipped the pass right to the Cornhusker receiver? Or could it be because a gust of wind just so happened to carry the football a few more yards, barely out of the reach of Wildcat defenders? We may never know the answer, but perhaps winning that contest just wasn’t meant to be.
Kelly Amonte Hiller, the messiah - Will Fischer
In 2005, Kelly Amonte Hiller led an unknown Northwestern women’s lacrosse team to an undefeated season and a NCAA Championship - the first title ever won by a team outside the Eastern time zone. Neat story, right? Oh yeah, the Wildcats also went on to win six more championships and made the Final Four every year from 2004 to 2014.
Not only did Amonte Hiller forge NU into a perennial powerhouse, she completely changed the game for women’s lacrosse. The sport has grown in popularity and is now a national game, with some of the better teams like Notre Dame and USC residing far from the east coast.
It might seem unreasonable to think that Amonte Hiller was brought to the Midwest by a higher power to transform NU and spread women’s lacrosse. But it’s also unreasonable to suggest that football players can forecast the future via Twitter. After a tough season, can Amonte Hiller have a second coming and resurrect NU women’s lacrosse to its original form of dominance? Only if you believe.
Jack Mitchell and God have a rocky relationship - Tim Hackett
The Wildcats lost their starting quarterback to an injury in the first quarter. They allowed 120 yards rushing and two scores from one of the conference’s best backs. They didn’t have a single receiver top 40 yards. They saw a 20-7 lead turn into a 21-20 deficit. They nearly saw a pass on their final drive intercepted. Oh and not to mention, they missed two field goals and an extra point. And yet, somehow, on November 7, 2015, Northwestern still won.
Bolstered by a 96-yard kickoff return by Solomon Vault and 186 rushing yards by Justin Jackson, NU somehow defeated Penn State on a Jack Mitchell 35-yard field goal with nine seconds left. This, of course, after he had missed from 39 and 47 yards out earlier, as well as missing a PAT. I’m not sure how many people on the premises truly believed that Mitchell would make the kick, especially because he didn't even tweet God about it. But somehow, make it he did, handing Northwestern a remarkable 23-21 win - and Jesus wept.