Oct 11, 2025; Lubbock, Texas, USA; A general view of the tortilla toss before the game between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images

College football differentiates itself from the NFL in the sense that it's rooted in pageantry and tradition. Different schools have completely unique fan experiences. But we could be seeing an end to one of college football's quirkiest traditions.

And the order is coming directly from school officials.

Since as early as 1989, Texas Tech fans have made it a tradition to throw tortillas onto the field at the start of football games. For the most part, it has largely been seen as a harmless tradition. But the Big 12 voted 15-1 this past summer to make throwing any object onto the playing surface (including the bench area) a penalty after the initial announced warning.

In Texas Tech's win over Kansas, the team was penalized for the tortilla throws, and the school was fined $25,000. But going forward, Texas Tech could be facing $100,000 fines. And with the Red Raiders still in the College Football Playoff hunt (even after Saturday's loss to Arizona State), those penalties could prove especially damaging.

Come Monday, Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt made it official and announced a ban to tortilla throwing.

He said:

"The stakes are too high, and we need to help — not risk penalizing our team again for throwing tortillas. Simply, let's not do it. The situation is on me. I leaned into this of throwing tortillas at the beginning of the football season. Now, I must ask everyone to stop, and I must ask our staff to enforce it on game days."

It remains to be seen if students will actually listen to Hocutt and adhere to the ban. But the school wants to avoid penalties and costly fines. That much is clear.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Why Texas Tech is banning its tortilla-throwing tradition after 35 years

Reporting by Andrew Joseph, For The Win / For The Win

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