With West Virginia’s legal dispute with the Big East settled, Texas fans can rejoice — the Big 12 Conference has finally released its football schedule for the 2012 season.

The schedule includes new Big 12 schools TCU and West Virginia. The conference remains at 10 teams with these additions and the departure of Texas A&M and Missouri.

Texas will now be playing TCU, instead of SEC-bound Texas A&M, on Thanksgiving weekend. But instead of the game being played on Thursday, the game is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 24, at Darrell K. Royal Stadium. But, it is likely that the schedule will be changed so the game will be played on Thanksgiving Day.

“Texas is going to be Texas and Texas A&M is going to be A&M,” said head coach Mack Brown last year. “There’ll be other rivals. Texas Tech’s a rival. Baylor’s a rival. TCU’s coming in the league and they’ll be another rival. There’ll be enough rivals.”

Both West Virginia and TCU finished in the Top 25 last season — they will provide a new challenge for the Longhorns. But, Texas caught a break and will face the two conference newcomers at home. The teams took Missouri and A&M’s place in scheduling in terms of home vs. away games.

The Longhorns will begin the season with three non-conference games against Wyoming, New Mexico and Mississippi. Coming out on top of these games will be crucial for the Longhorns because the road gets much tougher from there.

They begin conference play by facing defending conference champion Oklahoma State on Sept. 29. After facing the Cowboys in Stillwater, they take on West Virginia in Austin on Oct. 13, Texas will head to the Cotton Bowl for Red River Rivalry.

After that rough three game stretch, the Longhorns will face Baylor at home. The Bears dominated the Longhorns last season. But Baylor is losing Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III and many other starters so the game could be an opportunity for a win for the Longhrons.

After playing Baylor, Texas will be on the road two weeks in a row facing Kansas and Texas Tech. Texas will likely be favored in both matchups, but Lubbock is a tough place to win. On November 10, Texas will play Iowa State at home.

Texas’ final game of the season will be at Kansas State. K-State is bringing back dual-threat quarterback Collin Klein. Texas kept last season’s game against the Wildcats close with a final score of 13-17. With the Longhorns gaining more experience, this match up will be likely be an interesting way to end the season.

The 2012 season is bringing a couple of new teams to Austin and will be the first season in many years without a Texas A&M Thanksgiving game. But, the swapping of teams will provide new and exciting competition for Texas.

Printed on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 as: Breaking down the 2012 schedule