At Lubbock, Texas Tech grabbed headlines not just for its dominant win against the Kansas Jayhawks. But for a far more sensitive issue that could have turned fatal on the field. At the center of the controversy was a pocket knife, thrown from the stands, that could have hit one of the staffers present on the sidelines. Ultimately, a heated exchange between both head coaches broke out, and now Joey McGuire is doing damage control.

The controversy surrounded Texas Tech’s famed tortilla tradition, where fans throw tortillas (and objects) on the field. But after a pocket knife was thrown from the crowd, the Jayhawks’ HC lost his temper. Post-game, while McGuire and Leipold shook hands and embraced, a heated exchange soon followed. “Coach, I can’t do anything about it. You want me to do something (expletive) about it?” yelled McGuire at Jayhawks HC.

Post-game presser, Joey McGuire did the damage control. “It’s frustrating, you know, I’m frustrated. I know he was frustrated, you know.Wwe’ve got a new role in this league, and we know the rule, and we didn’t follow it, and we got penalized tonight, you know, with 15-yard penalties.”

A new policy, rolled out in late August (per the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal), forbade fans from throwing tortillas and objects after the opening kickoff, or else the roster would face penalties…and they did. But the fans on the stands continued to throw them, even after the kickoff. It happened twice, and the Red Raiders were penalized for it.

The frustration was aimed towards the Red Raiders fans, whose lack of abiding by the new policy might have led to a knife hitting one of the Jawhawks’ staff and led to penalties to their own roster. “It’s frustrating, because it’s kind of like whenever I talk to the guys, you know, make it about the football; if you’re throwing tortillas more than once, now it becomes all about you,” the Texas Tech head coach said. “Is that a Red Raider?”

Joey McGuire stressed that moving on, they need to have a better plan to control such situations, to “get the point across.” Though the Red Raiders won 42-17, it almost got to a tight matchup before halftime. With an 18-point lead, Texas Tech entered the second quarter. But could only chip in one field goal, while the Jayhawks raked in 17 points in 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, coach Lance Leipold has expressed his disappointment with the incident.

Lance Leipold disappointed

To respect the Tortilla tradition, fans were permitted to throw tortillas only after the opening kickoff. But the blatant disregard for the new policy has the head coach fearing for the safety of his players and the staff. “I mean, say it what it was, I mean, a pocket knife was thrown, and it hit one of our staff members.” He continued. “I mean, it’s ridiculous.” The disappointment further stretched to how poorly the initial incident was handled, with the conference office being poor at taking care of such unacceptable antics.

When this policy was being mulled over, the conference’s athletic directors voted 15-1 to impose discipline on the home team if the fans failed to abide by it and threw objects on the field. The lone dissent to the proposal was from Texas Tech‘s Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt, who wanted to defend the tradition. And now Texas Tech’s roster is the one getting hammered.

Coach Leipold added. “I mean, it’s supposed to be for safety and things like that…and it’s a culture that’s been accepted to a point…and it hasn’t changed. And eventually, somebody’s going to be seriously hurt, unfortunately.”

In College football, traditions are sacred. But throwing a pocket knife from the sidelines poses a paramount question about the safety of the people on the field.