Kalani Sitake’s BYU Cougars are off to their third 9-0 start in the last five years. Sitting in the No. 1 spot in the Big 12 Conference, up next for BYU is No. 8 ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders. That game will be No. 7 vs No. 8 and the winner of that game will likely have a leg up on a Big 12 title run. Sitake’s Cougars might expect a lot of things, but fans tossing tortillas will not be one of them. The loss of that fan tradition is something Sitake finds ‘disappointing’.
Just shy of a month ago, the Big 12 conference sent a memo to Texas Tech on fans throwing objects onto the field. The memo was taken very seriously by the Texas Tech athletic deparment and is viewed as almost a zero tolerance policy. Texas Tech will have gameday crew members monitoring the stands to address any violators of this new stance.
This new throwing objects provision is very specific and the punishment, in the case of Texas Tech tortillas, is significant. The first warning for any tortilla tossing is just that a warning. However, upon a second offense following that first warning is an automatic 15-yard penalty and a $100,000 fine.
In a joint press conference that included Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire and athletic director Kirby Hocutt was held shortly after the policy change. The self-imposed tortilla ban is a direct result of a rules memo sent out by the Big 12 conference that week. After outlining the policy change and how it affects Texas Tech, Hocutt made a direct appeal to the fanbase.
"The stakes are too high," Hocutt said, "and we need to help not risk penalizing our team again for throwing tortillas. Simply, let's not do it."
BYU head coach Sitake is a fan of embracing the atmosphere and traditions of other programs. It's something Sitake emparts on his players. Always embrace college football together. The loss of this Texas Tech tradition is not something he is looking forward to.
“I’m always about embracing college football together,” Sitake said regarding the tortilla tradition. “So that’s the environment where you go on the road and you get to see these awesome venues and you get to see fans that love their teams so much. So, I’m asking our guys to embrace the whole thing. We’ve done that every time we go on the road, to have fun in that environment.
In addition to the yardage penalty and the monetary fine, another aspect of this policy that likely puts an end to the tortilla tossing is the “clear” aspect of the process. If anyone from the gameday operations crew at Jones AT&T Stadium were to identify someone tossing an object (in this case tortillas) the crew has the ability to temporarily stop the game and/or ‘clear’ that entire section of the stadium. Sitake again reiterated that he has no issue with the tradition and is saddened by the removal of it.
“I don’t have anything personally against what they do,” Sitake said. “For me it’s sad because I want to see everything. It’s a really cool environment. All of our guys know about it. We’re looking forward to the game.”
The tortilla tradition is all but officially over. Texas Tech announced that it will no longer “encourage or permit” the tortilla tossing after the Big 12 made the rule change.
BYU travels to Lubbock Texas to take on the Red Raiders this week. The game will kick off at Noon ET (minus the tortillas) and will broadcast on ABC.
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