Texas Tech will no longer endorse one of the most unique traditions in college football. Beginning this week in its game against Oklahoma State, the university will not “encourage nor permit” fans to throw tortillas during the opening kickoff. Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt made the announcement Monday after the Big 12 threatened in-game penalties and $100,000 fines if fans continued to throw tortillas onto the playing surface.
The future of the tortilla throwing tradition has been in peril since the No. 14 Red Raiders’ win over Kansas on Oct. 11. The team drew two 15-yard penalties in that contest, and the university later faced a $25,000 fine for repeated instances of objects being thrown onto the playing enclosure.
“We control our own fate in every situation on the football field as well as with our event operations,” Hocutt said ahead of coach Joey McGuire’s weekly press conference. “We know that as Red Raiders, no one tells us what to do. We make our own decisions, and we encourage actions because they are the right thing to do. We have an opportunity, and we are on the cusp of a very special football season. I ask the Red Raider nation to continue to give these players, this team and all of our Red Raiders all of our support and all of our energy to make sure we give them every possible chance to accomplish our goal of getting to Arlington for the Big 12 conference championship and the College Football Playoff.”
After a 2024 season riddled with disruptive behavior across the sport, Big 12 athletic directors voted by a 15-1 count in August to penalize schools if their fans throw objects onto the field. Texas Tech continued to endorse the throwing of tortillas after that rule adoption but encouraged fans to only throw them straight into the air and not onto the field. The school also instructed fans to throw tortillas only during the opening kickoff.
“Simply, we cannot risk letting our actions penalize our football team,” Hocutt said. “The stakes are too high, and we need to help, not risk penalizing our team again for throwing tortillas. Simply, let’s not do it. The situation is on me. I leaned into this, throwing tortillas at the beginning of the football season. Now I must ask everyone to stop, and I must ask our staff to enforce it on game days.”
The tradition began sometime between the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, although the origins are unclear. It gained significant attention in recent seasons as Texas Tech began to build a Big 12-contending program under McGuire, peaking this year in what looks destined to be one of the best campaigns in school history.
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