Daily Texan Staff
At first glance, Jones Stadium hardly appears menacing.
The home of the Texas Tech Red Raiders isn't built with the same imposing sense that Royal-Memorial Stadium was instilled with, and it barely seats over 50,000 fans on any given Saturday.
The fans also aren't as close to the field as they are at Oklahoma State's Lewis Field, and in all likelihood, the frenzy they create probably doesn't match that of Aggieland.
Yet, despite all that, the No. 20 Longhorns know they aren't heading to Disneyland this weekend.
The crowd at Texas Tech might not be as large as some of the other scenes the Horns have dealt with recently, but it is going to be every bit as rowdy in Lubbock as it has been in other stadiums.
Jones Stadium, believe it or not, is one of the toughest venues to deal with in the Big 12.
"I'd say Texas Tech's fans are the meanest in the Big 12," Texas safety Greg Brown said. "They get right up on you as soon as you get off the bus, and they start throwing all sorts of verbal slurs at you. I can't even repeat most of the stuff they say to me."
And the worst part is that it lasts for all 60 minutes of football.
Once the game begins, Texas Tech's lovable fans become even more crazy.
They point fingers, they cuss, they spit, they throw ice at players, they rant and rave some more, and on top of all that, they throw tortillas.
As crazy as that sounds, it rains thousands upon thousands of tortillas in the West Texas stadium. Just ask Roy Williams about it.
"I used to go to the games and toss the tortillas at the opposing players," said Williams, who made the drive from Odessa when he was younger to watch his brother, Lloyd Hill, play. "I ducked after I hit somebody though because I was just a little kid then. I didn't want to get in any trouble with any players."
Not even the Red Sea in Nebraska can compete with that.
But that is what the Longhorns are going to have to deal with Saturday night at Jones Stadium.
Tortillas are going to be thrown at them, and in all likelihood, some fans are going to say some things they probably could go without hearing.
It's not as laid-back as it was at Colorado, but on the other end of the spectrum, it certainly doesn't involve the degree of hatred that Oklahoma fans showed the players at the Cotton Bowl on Oct. 7.
But all the same, the Horns know they have plenty to look forward to in Lubbock. They'll just have to have good humor about it.
"The fans there just care about football and they really get into it," Texas head coach Mack Brown said. "You have to give them credit for that, but at the same time you have to get your team prepared to go into that hostile environment. I've told our players to just embrace it because that environment is what college football is supposed to be about. Fans are supposed to be into the game."
Of course, not all of Brown's players are quick to welcome the Red Raiders' lovable fans.
In fact, that is about the last thing middle linebacker D.D. Lewis wants to do.
"I don't like it all," Lewis said. "I don't like any place away from DKR, but the fans at Tech just yell at you constantly, and they throw those tortillas at you. It's worse than any place we have been, and it's right up there with A&M.
"I hate it, and to tell you the truth I wouldn't mind going up in the stands and slapping a couple of their folks because of the way they act." Lewis continued. "But I don't want to get kicked out of the game, so I would never actually do that."
Thus, Lewis and the Longhorns will have to bite their tongues and take what they receive from perhaps the most obnoxious fans in the conference.
Even if it's a tortilla in the face.
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