Texas Tech head coach pleads with tortilla-throwing fans after team penalized 30 yards
By Jamie Barton, CNN
(CNN) — Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire pleaded with fans to stop throwing tortillas onto the field on Saturday night after the tradition cost his team 30 yards in penalties.
Big 12 athletic directors voted 15-1 during the offseason in favor of a policy which disciplines home teams when spectators throw debris onto the gridiron. Saturday was the first time the Red Raiders have faced sanctions for the decades-old practice.
“I’m frustrated,” McGuire told reporters after the game, in which No. 9 Texas Tech defeated Kansas 42-17. “We’ve got a new rule in this league. We know the rule and we didn’t follow it and we got penalized tonight.”
“You made it about you,” he added. “If you’re throwing tortillas more than once, it becomes all about you.
“Like, really? Is that a Red Raider? You came to the game, and you love this team and you’re passionate about this team, and yet you’re going to throw another tortilla when you know it’s against the rules?”
After an initial warning, the first 15-yard penalty came in the second quarter and forced Texas Tech to begin a drive from within its 15. That setback came part way through a period of 17 straight points for Kansas as it fought back after going 21-0 down.
“It’s going to catch up with us,” said McGuire. “The first one nearly did because the game was a little bit tighter than what you wanted. But it’s going to catch up with us.”
The second penalty handed possession to the Jayhawks at their 40 during the fourth quarter, once the Red Raiders were already out of sight. McGuire and Kansas head coach Lance Leipold could be seen having a heated discussion after the game.
Leipold said in his postgame press conference that a pocketknife had been thrown during the game and had hit a member of Kansas’ staff.
“It’s ridiculous,” he told reporters. “Eventually someone’s going to be seriously hurt, unfortunately.”
CNN has reached out to the University of Kansas and Texas Tech for comment.
There has been some division within Texas Tech following the introduction of the new rules. The college’s athletic director, Kirby Horcutt, was the sole dissenting voice in the vote, and has since suggested ways in which the tradition can be kept in line with the new regulations. Red Raiders fans were encouraged by the college to only throw tortillas before the game, in keeping with the new rules.
The Red Raiders’ next home game is against Oklahoma State on October 25.
The-CNN-Wire
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