Big 12 Makes Firm Decision Following Texas Tech Incident

The Big 12 on Wednesday fined both Kansas and Texas Tech $25,000 each after a chaotic postgame week that began when Red Raider fans repeatedly tossed tortillas onto the field during Texas Tech’s 42–17 victory over Kansas, and escalated when Kansas coach Lance Leipold accused a fan of throwing a pocketknife at his staff — a claim the conference says was inaccurate.

The conference’s penalties followed an internal review that concluded Texas Tech "did not take sufficient steps to prevent and deter the repeated throwing of objects onto the field and team bench areas" and that Leipold’s postgame comments were disparaging to a member institution. 

Now, just two days after the fines were announced, Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt told student leaders the conference is moving to a sharply higher financial penalty.

Under the updated enforcement plan, the first instance will draw a stadium PA warning and the second instance which results in an item (including tortillas) striking the playing enclosure, will trigger a 15-yard penalty and a $100,000 fine assessed to the home school.

Hocutt described the change in a closed Zoom session, pleading fans not to continue to throw tortillas into the field: "Guys, that's a big financial penalty."