Big 12 pregame: Texas wins out by hosting TCU on Thanksgiving

The UT-A&M spat over the Aggies leaving the Big 12 has ended, for now, all Longhorn-Aggie athletic competition. The Thanksgiving tradition was the major blow.

With only occasional exceptions, UT and A&M played Thanksgiving night or Thanksgiving Friday morning for almost a century.

UT athletic director DeLoss Dodds repeatedly has said he wants to keep alive Texas' Thanksgiving tradition and even wants to host every year, preferably against one of UT's old rivals from the Southwest Conference.

Most schools would prefer not to host a Thanksgiving Day game, so the Big 12 was glad to accommodate the Longhorns.

“It creates a dynamic in the schedule that's a challenge,” said Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said. “It's easy to make it so they play every Thanksgiving. It's not easy to make it so they play every Thanksgiving at home, which is what they want. So that requires other accommodations.

“But at least in the near term, we think we have it done.”

Bowlsby said most schools don't mind hosting a game on the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving, but “there aren't a lot of schools that want to host on the (Thanksgiving) day.”