Texas Tech will fight to keep its Big 12 Championship hopes alive as they face reigning champions ASU on Saturday. This is a crucial game for Joey Maguire, who will want to roll out his best weapons. However, the HC is looking at a crisis, now that the return of his QB remains uncertain.

Behren Morton has still not been cleared for the ASU game. He went out with an ankle injury against Kansas, and has since been on a day-to-day basis. On3 now confirms that Morton is now a gameday decision for Texas Tech. But the QB seems to be recovering well this week, according to Pete Nakos. Losing Morton would turn out to be a serious problem, since Mcguire’s hopes to make the Big 12 Championship rest heavily on this game. Morton has the 7 best QBR in the Big 12.

Morton has now grown into being a regular feature in injury reports throughout his career. But he is also known to fight them each time. This season alone, the QB has been out thrice with injuries. McGuire lauded Morton’s commitment to being back in play, no matter what. “That dude’s the toughest kid I’ve ever coached,” the HC said in a presser. However, the injuries don’t end there for Joey McGuire.

Texas Tech will be missing DL Skyler Gill-Howard, who is now ruled out for good. He suffered a season-ending injury in the Kansas game. Howard was an extremely important feature in the Red Raiders D-line, having hauled in 13 tackles, 0.5 sacks and an interception. He is part of a defense that is 9th-best in the country. Howard also has a PFF grade that is 4 best in his position nationally. He underwent surgery to treat the injured leg. Sources told On3 that there is a slight chance of the DT coming back during the playoffs if Texas Tech manages to hold steady by then.

Injuries aside, the Texas Tech-Arizona State game is going to be an interesting one from the fans’ perspective as well. Because unlike previous gamedays, the Red Raiders are breaking away from a key tradition on Saturday.

Texas Tech can be fined $100,000 for this fan tradition

Texas Tech has one of the most peculiar fan traditions on gamedays: throwing tortillas. Nobody has any clue about how and why the practice really started. But every gameday, without fail, you’ll see fans throwing those flatbreads into the air in unison. But they won’t be able to do it so freely now, according to AD Kirby Hocutt. There is now a strict policy against tortilla-throwing, falling in line with the Big 12’s rules about throwing objects in the field.

Now, fans are prohibited from throwing tortillas anywhere near the “playing enclosure.” This includes team benches and areas near the endzones. Essentially, if a tortilla you throw lands on the field, there will be repercussions. Hocutt announced that the first strike will have the PA system sound a warning. But the next time this happens, a flat fine of $100,000 along with a 15-yard penalty will be levied on Texas Tech. This happened in the Kansas game last night, for which the program was fined $25,000.

Now fans have to keep themselves in check. Meanwhile Joey Mcguire has to ensure the Red Raiders are ready to execute despite these key injuries. They’re entering this game with a lot of good things on both sides of the ball. But nothing is guaranteed until the final whistle blows.