Texas Tech has banned the throwing of tortillas by fans on kickoffs, a tradition that dates back to the 1990s.
The ban comes after the 14th-ranked Red Raiders were penalized twice and fined over objects thrown on the field in their most recent home game.
Fans entering the stadium will now be instructed to discard tortillas, and there will be reminders before kickoff for anyone who took tortillas in to give them to stadium workers in order for them to be thrown away, athletic director Kirby Hocutt said Monday.
Anyone caught throwing tortillas will have their ticket privileges revoked from the rest of the academic year across all sports, Hocutt added.
The announcement came a little more than a week after the Red Raiders were given two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after kickoffs in a 42-17 win over Kansas. Oklahoma State visits Saturday.
Hocutt was the lone dissenting vote when the Big 12 Conference approved a policy to penalize teams for objects thrown on the field. The vote came just before the season, and Hocutt was defiant in his reaction to the rule and its effect on a tradition that goes back years at Texas Tech.
“The situation is on me,” Hocutt said. “I leaned into this, of throwing tortillas, at the beginning of the football season. Now I must ask everyone to stop, and I must ask our staff to enforce this on game days.”
Coach Joey McGuire had harsh words for fans after the game against the Jayhawks, but said while sitting alongside Hocutt at the coach’s regular Monday meeting with reporters that he had also encouraged fans to continue throwing tortillas, but only on the opening kickoff.
The Big 12 rule states that officials will issue a warning for a first offense and assess 15-yard penalties thereafter.
“I leaned into it also,” McGuire said. “I believe in tradition.”
The Red Raiders (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) are coming off their first loss after Arizona State drove to a winning touchdown in the final two minutes of the Sun Devils’ 26-22 win at home.
Despite the loss, Texas Tech is still positioned to reach the Big 12 championship game for the first time, and has a shot at the school’s first trip to the College Football Playoff.
“I wished that we were doing this at 7-0,” McGuire said. “It’s frustrating, and I know everybody’s frustrated that we’re doing it coming off a loss. But it was going to be done. We had been talking about this either way.”
After hosting the last-place Cowboys (1-6, 0-4), Texas Tech next plays at home Nov. 8 against No. 11 BYU, which is undefeated. The regular-season home finale is Nov. 15 against UCF.
“The moment that we sit in today is one that Red Raiders have dreamed about for a long, long time,” Hocutt said. “So simply, we cannot risk letting our actions penalize our football team. The stakes are too high, and we need to help, not risk penalizing our team again for throwing tortillas.”
The Big 12 fined Texas Tech $25,000 for throwing tortillas against the Jayhawks, and Kansas was fined the same amount for coach Lance Leipold’s false accusation after the game that a pocketknife was thrown from the stands.
McGuire and Leipold had a brief but heated exchange after the game. While chastising fans for continuing to throw tortillas beyond the opening kickoff, McGuire didn’t say anything about Leipold claiming a pocketknife was thrown.
“I know the fan base will get behind this,” McGuire said.
“I still believe the last game, it was as loud as I’ve ever been a part of. The towels were really cool. Maybe it’s the Pittsburgh tradition with the ‘Terrible Towel.’ But the energy and how loud it was had nothing to do with tortillas.”
