Texas Tech is banning the throwing of tortillas by fans on kickoffs after the 14th-ranked Red Raiders were penalized twice and fined for objects being thrown onto the field in their most recent home game. Athletic director Kirby Hocutt said Monday that fans entering the stadium would be instructed to discard tortillas, and that there would be reminders before kickoff for anyone who took tortillas in to give them to stadium workers in order for them to be thrown away, the AP reports. Those caught throwing tortillas would have their ticket privileges revoked for the rest of the academic year across all sports, Hocutt said.
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 onto 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.
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The Red Raiders 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. "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."
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