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During the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, a flour tortilla flew onto the court, briefly interrupting play and confusing much of the crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis – as well as the national television audience.
This Texas Tech tradition, which began sometime between the late 1980s and early 1990s, gained national attention, with media outlets such as Yahoo News, Time Magazine and USA TODAY attempting to uncover its origins, but no one could provide a definitive answer.
However, there are some theories!
How did Texas Tech’s tortilla toss start?
Archivists, historians and longtime superfans have told various stories about the origins of Texas Tech’s tortilla tradition, but the field has now narrowed down to two main stories.
The first, less exciting theory suggests that the tradition began in 1989, when students, no longer able to throw soda pop lids onto the field like they used to, began throwing tortillas instead, according to the Red Raider fan site. Long live the Matadors.
The more popular theory links the tortilla tradition to the rivalry between Texas Tech and the Texas A&M Aggies, which is also consistent with the claim that the statue of Will Rogers on his horse Soapsuds in front of campus was intentionally placed so that the horse’s rear end was facing toward College Station. Legend has it that before a 1992 Tech-A&M football game, an ESPN commentator joked that there was “nothing in Lubbock but Texas Tech football and a tortilla factory.” In response, fans brought tortillas to the game and threw them around the area at kickoff, sparking an ongoing tradition.
Regardless of which story is true, the tradition seems to have started with a sense of humor.
What is the controversy behind the tortilla throwing?
One of Texas Tech’s most controversial traditions, the tortilla toss, isn’t even on the university’s official website. While it’s not the worst tradition among college fan bases, it’s long been frowned upon by the NCAA — and possibly by Tech itself, though enforcement has been lax in recent years.
In 2018 The Daily ToreadorTech’s student newspaper, surveyed students and faculty about their stance on the tortilla throwing ban.
A university archivist explained at the time that the tradition was controversial because, while many students enjoy it, it is not an official university tradition and she believes it is unsportsmanlike. Most students, however, defended the practice, insisting that throwing tortillas on the field has never caused serious harm, even to Tech’s beloved horses.
But more than once the officials had to interrupt games because leftover tortillas posed a danger to the athletes.
There have also been claims that the tradition has racist undertones toward Latino communities. This was reinforced in 2021 when high school students from a predominantly white school in the San Diego area threw tortillas at a team from a predominantly Latino high school.
Does the NCAA really have a “tortilla penalty” rule?
The NCAA does not have a specific “tortilla penalty rule” in its official rulebook. But the football team can be penalized under NCAA rules for unsportsmanlike conduct or delay of game. The conference could also fine the university.
However, Texas Tech fans are not allowed to bring tortillas openly, so many resort to more creative methods and carry them in their boots or underwear.
Listen: More theories about the origin of the tortilla toss at Tech
