Texas Tech fans have a longstanding tradition of throwing tortillas on the field at Jones-Casey Stadium, but Saturday against Colorado saw a few more items get wrapped into the package, so to speak — trash, water bottles and even a vape, as USA Today noted.
Heisman Trophy candidate Travis Hunter stuffed one tortilla into his pants. Shedeur Sanders signed another after the 41-27 win that moved Colorado to 7-2. The tortillas were accepted as a unique part of playing in Lubbock. The other stuff, less so.
‘They were throwing everything but my mama at me,” Colorado coach Deion Sanders said. “But when they start throwing the water bottles and those other objects, that’s when you’ve got to alarm the officials, and say, `OK now, tortillas are one thing, but water bottles are another thing. That’s getting a little crazy.”
Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire, who has known Sanders for over a decade and coached his son Deion Sanders Jr. in high school, took the microphone and addressed the home crowd in the fourth quarter to implore them to stop throwing everything but the tortillas.
“I got a vape brought over to me. I got a water bottle brought over to me. I got a beer bottle brought over to me,” McGuire said. “It’s great with tortillas and everything like that, but we got really lucky that we didn’t get a 15-yard penalty.”
Throwing trash on the field has become an epidemic in college football this fall, mostly since Texas students did it to successfully overturn a call against Georgia in October. On Saturday night in Baton Rouge, LSU fans expressed their displeasure with one call in a 42-13 loss by throwing water bottles. The act caught the rare ire of ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit.
“Some idiots do this in Texas and now we see it popping up,” Herbstreit said. “Enough’s enough, clowns.”
Once the loudest team in college football, the Buffaloes might be now be the quietest College Football Playoff contender. Colorado moved to 7-2 and sole possession of No. 2 in the Big 12 after outlasting Texas Tech 41-27 in a key road victory. After the win, Colorado is now projected to reach the Big 12 Championship Game against BYU.
The Buffaloes are quietly one of the greatest success stories of the season after leaning on a passing combo of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter and a wildly underrated defensive front. Colorado ranks top 25 nationally in sacks and dragged down Texas Tech’s Behren Morton six times. CU will be favored in its three remaining games.