"After a crackdown by the Big 12, Texas Tech will flatten its tortilla-tossing tradition. Red Raiders athletic director Kirby Hocutt joined head coach Joey McGuire during Monday news conference to announce that the university is "no longer going to encourage nor permit the throwing of tortillas" at the opening kickoff of their football games. Texas Tech fans have tossed tortillas in the crowd at Jones AT&T Stadium since the 1990s."
"In August, Big 12 ADs voted 15-1 to assess a 15-yard penalty after two warnings for objects being thrown on the field, with Hocutt the lone dissenter. After the vote, he tweeted, "the rules can change. But our tradition will not" and suggested a new tradition of launching tortillas for the opening kickoff. But after a raucous scene in Lubbock during the Red Raiders' 42-17 win over Kansas on Oct. 11,"
The Big 12 enacted penalties for objects thrown on the field, voting 15-1 to assess a 15-yard penalty after two warnings and later amending the rule to one warning followed by a 15-yard penalty and a $100,000 fine. A league source told ESPN the change came because Texas Tech was unable to get the situation under control after fans repeatedly threw tortillas. Athletic director Kirby Hocutt and head coach Joey McGuire announced the university is no longer going to encourage nor permit the throwing of tortillas at the opening kickoff and asked fans to stop. McGuire said he understands the tradition because his daughter participated as a student, and Hocutt accepted responsibility.
Read at ESPN.com
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