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Texas Tech AD Asks Students to Give Up Tortilla Throwing Tradition for Fear of Fines

Texas Tech’s tortilla tradition tragically tossed.

Tyler Lauletta

The Texas Tech Red Raiders student body throw tortillas at kick off in the against the Oregon State Beavers.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders student body throw tortillas at kick off in the against the Oregon State Beavers. / Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images
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Texas Tech is dealing with two tough losses from over the weekend.

First, the No. 7 Red Raiders fell to an unranked Arizona State side on the road, resulting in a field-storming as the Sun Devils celebrated their first win over a top-10 opponent in nearly six years.

Then on Monday, athletic director Kirby Hocutt and coach Joey McGuire had to somberly request that their fans end the school’s tradition of tossing tortillas onto the field.

"The stakes are too high,” Hocutt said. “We need to help, not risk, penalizing our team again for throwing tortillas."

Allie LaForce of TNT Sports explained the origins of the tradition earlier this year.

The tradition was so engrained in the football culture of Texas Tech that it was featured in this year’s College Football 25 video game.

But given Hocutt’s statement, it appears that the tortilla tossing will not be continuing. There were signs the tortillas might be growing stale in the offseason, when the Big 12 established new rules penalizing teams for objects thrown onto the field. That vote was 15-1, with the Red Raiders the only school voting against.

Hocutt had initially projected confidence, assuring fans after the vote that the tortilla toss would continue, but when the Big 12 added a $100,000 fine to the penalty, the Red Raiders had to think about what’s best for the health of the program in the NIL era.

"We know that as Red Raiders, no one tells us what to do. We make our own decisions," Hocutt said. "This situation is on me. I leaned into throwing tortillas at the beginning of the football season. Now I must ask everyone to stop."

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Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News Team/team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.

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