The tortilla toss is ubiquitous with Texas Tech football. It has survived the Big 12’s new policies related to throwing items onto the field, but head coach Joey McGuire urged fans ahead of this weekend’s game against the University of Kansas to be restrained with the iconic tradition.
According to The Daily Toreador, McGuire hopes students will limit themselves to one tortilla toss and then focus their attention on being disruptive to the opponent’s defense to avoid further penalties.
In August, Big 12 athletic directors voted 15 to one to reform policies related to throwing items onto the field. The singular vote against the new policy, Kirby Hocutt, is the Texas Tech athletic director, who feared what would become of the traditional tortilla toss if the penalties applied. In the end, the Big 12 agreed to allow the Red Riders two warnings for throwing items on the field before 15-yard penalties would result.
The student section is allowed to toss tortillas during the opening kickoff, but the Big 12 officials may penalize them for any throws after that.
“We are the most penalized team in the Big 12, and that's on me and our coaching staff and our players,” McGuire said. “We don't need anything to add to it.”
McGuire urged the student section to focus on being loud and disruptive while the opponent’s defense is on the field, rather than continue to throw tortillas at the field. In this season’s previous games against Utah and Houston, the Red Raiders’ fans did not draw additional penalties for the errant tortilla tosses beyond kickoff, but McGuire doesn’t want to take any chances at the upcoming Homecoming game.
“I've never experienced a louder crowd when the defense takes the field,” McGuire said. And I know we have a better fan base. I know that we have a more passionate fan base.”
