Texas Tech will ban the tradition of tossing tortillas at kickoffs of home football games after a recent change in Big 12 policy stiffened the penalties and fines for objects thrown onto the field, athletic director Kirby Hocutt said Monday.<\/p>\n
Hocutt, who joined Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire for the beginning of his weekly news conference, said the change in stadium policy was prompted to prevent tortilla tossing from impacting the team\u2019s chances of winning games as it pursues its first Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff berth.<\/p>\n
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark last week altered the conference\u2019s game management policy<\/a> to allow one warning before levying a 15-yard personal foul penalty and a $100,000 fine for second and subsequent offenses by fans throwing objects onto the playing surface. Previously, the policy allowed for two warnings before penalties were assessed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are no longer going to encourage nor permit the throwing of tortillas at the opening kickoff for our home football games,\u201d Hocutt said. \u201cWe have an opportunity and we are on the cusp of a very special football season \u2026 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. Simply, must not do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Tortilla tossing at Jones AT&T Stadium is a decades-old tradition, believed to date back to the 1990s. Texas Tech fans throw tortillas in the air at the opening kickoff, and for years, they\u2019ve often been thrown after subsequent kickoffs.<\/p>\n Under the previous conference policy, Texas Tech incurred two 15-yard penalties \u2014 both for tortillas on the playing surface following kickoffs \u2014 in its last home game, a 42-17 win over Kansas on Oct. 11. The postgame handshake between McGuire and Kansas coach Lance Leipold became contentious<\/a>, with the two shouting expletives at each other before being separated.<\/p>\n Leipold complained after the game that one of his staffers was hit with a pocketknife, but the Big 12 later said that statement was \u201cinaccurate.\u201d Each school was fined $25,000 by the conference: Texas Tech for \u201crepeated instances\u201d of fans throwing objects onto the field, Kansas for Leipold\u2019s \u201cdisparaging comments about the Conference and a member institution\u201d and the inaccurate pocketknife claim.<\/p>\n Hocutt, on a video call with Texas Tech students last week, announced Yormark\u2019s change in policy<\/a> and stressed the importance of following it to avoid more penalties and the new six-figure fine. On Monday while announcing the school\u2019s tortilla ban, Hocutt took responsibility for encouraging the continued practice of tossing tortillas after Big 12 athletic directors voted 15-to-1 in August to solidify league policy on allowing two warnings before assessing 15-yard penalties when objects are thrown onto the field.<\/p>\n After the August vote, Hocutt posted on X, \u201cRed Raiders, the rules can change. But our tradition will not.\u201d Hocutt encouraged fans to continue tossing tortilla for the opening kickoff only, which resulted in a warning on game days.<\/p>\n Red Raiders, the rules can change.<\/p>\n But our tradition will not.<\/p>\n How about the @UnitedWestTexas<\/a> Opening Kickoff Tortilla Launch? #15To1<\/a><\/p>\n