Texas Christian @ Texas preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 8, 2007 ) Texas Christian 13, Texas 34

Texas starts what will potentially be a new Thanksgiving rivalry when it hosts Texas Christian, their first meeting as members of the Big 12 Conference. The No. 15 Longhorns have played 75 games on Thanksgiving, including 64 - and the last four years - against Texas A&M. But the Longhorns' series with the Aggies ended with Texas A&M's defection to the Southeastern Conference. Texas, which finishes its regular season at Kansas State on Dec. 1, has won four straight since its 63-21 loss to Oklahoma on Oct. 13. The Horned Frogs are coming off a 23-10 loss to the then-No. 1 Wildcats on Nov. 10 and have lost three of their last four games.

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN. LINE: Texas -8

ABOUT TCU (6-4, 3-4 Big 12): The Horned Frogs have been plagued by turnovers with 11 in their last four games. Coupled with TCU's penchant for penalties (21st-most in the country at 7.2 per game), the Horned Frogs have made life difficult on themselves. Trevone Boykin, who took over at quarterback after Casey Pachall left school to deal with substance abuse, has eight interceptions, but has been brilliant at times with four touchdown passes in back-to-back games - a school record. Running backs Matthew Tucker and freshman B.J.Catalon combined for 108 yards on 18 carries against Kansas State and will try to exploit the nation's No. 98 rushing defense. TCU's defense is 16th in the country at 326.3 yards allowed.

ABOUT TEXAS (8-2, 5-2): Sophomore quarterback David Ash has responded well to being pulled from the Longhorns' 21-17 victory at Kansas on Oct. 27. He has completed 72 percent of his passes and thrown for five touchdowns in the last two games, and was 25-of-31 for a career-high 364 yards in the Longhorns' 33-7 victory over Iowa State on Nov. 10. Ash's two primary targets are deep threat Mike Davis (45 catches, 18.6 yards per catch - fifth in the nation, seven touchdowns) and underneath option Jaxon Shipley (40, 12.5, five). The Longhorns have allowed 15.3 points per game in facing three of the four worst scoring offenses in the Big 12 in the last three contests after yielding 45.6 in their previous five.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Texas will be the fourth team TCU has faced this season which did not play the week before. The Horned Frogs are 3-0 in such games with victories over SMU (24-16), Baylor (49-41) and West Virginia (39-38 in double overtime).

2. TCU, which will play on Thanksgiving for the first time since 1928, has won 46 straight games when rushing for more yards than passing.

3. Texas leads the series 61-20-1 and has won the last four meetings, including 34-13 in 2007. The Longhorns and Horned Frogs were members of the Southwest Conference and met every season from 1927 until the league disbanded in 1995.

PREDICTION: Texas 23, TCU 16