Texas-TCU football game moved off of Thanksgiving

The silly and unnecessary practice of the Texas Longhorns continuing to play non-rivalry "rivalry" games against the TCU Horned Frogs and Texas Tech Red Raiders on Thanksgiving will stop at least for one year, as the 2016 contest etween the Longhorns and Horned Frogs is officially off of Turkey Day and on to Friday.

The change was requested by the conference and the television networks. Certainly, the latter is a key player there, as going up against the traditional NFL games telecast on Thanksgiving was no longer a recipe for success with the departure of the Texas A&M Aggies to the SEC. Instead, the forced tradition of continuing to play on Thanksgiving became a detriment to families who had to sacrifice their time together or otherwise adjust their plans to accommodate football games no one on the national landscape cared about. Student attendance, in particular, suffered mightily.

But the schools and the conference and the networks are getting this right now. And that's a nice development, even if the reasons were hardly altruistic or even fan-centered beyond achieving the best ratings possible.

From the university:

The Longhorns last played on the Friday after Thanksgiving in 2007 at Texas A&M, with the last home game coming in 2006 versus the Aggies. Those two games finished a stretch of 12-straight Friday games against Texas A&M that began in 1996. Prior to that, the last series of Friday games around the Thanksgiving Holiday came in 1974 and 1975 versus the Aggies.

[Noon update]:

Texas AD Mike Perrin said next season's TCU-Texas game on Friday will be an afternoon game, "but not a definite time."

— Kirk Bohls (@kbohls) February 5, 2016