Of the four new Big 12 teams, Texas will play the two it is most familiar with in 2023

On3 imageby:Joe Cook01/31/23

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The 2023 season will mark the first for the Big 12 with Central Florida, Houston, BYU, and Cincinnati as members of its football conference. Following the release of the 2023 Big 12 schedule on Tuesday, the Longhorns can now look forward to matchups with the two teams they are most familiar with. Out of the four new members, Texas will face Houston and BYU during the 2023 season.

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The Longhorns and the Houston Cougars have a long history. No more than three hours apart, UH and UT first played each other in 1953 when the Longhorns won in Austin by a score of 28-7. The two institutions then had annual battles between 1976 and 1995 as members of the Southwest Conference. Texas was 12-7-2 versus the Cougars, with a famous win in 1990 as part of the “Shock the Nation” campaign.

After the SWC broke apart, the two schools played three times between 2000 and 2002 with Texas winning all three contests.

Houston will host the Longhorns on October 21.

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The other matchup for the Longhorns with a new Big 12 member occurs one week later on October 28 when the BYU Cougars travel to Austin. BYU and UT have faced off five times, with the Longhorns holding a 1-4 record against the Mormon institution of higher learning.

The lone Texas win was in 2011, a 17-16 affair in Austin. The Longhorns lost contests in Provo, Utah in 1988 and 2013, and games at Memorial Stadium in 1987 and 2014.

Texas won’t face Central Florida or Cincinnati this year unless one of those two schools were to meet Steve Sarkisian’s program in the Big 12 Championship game, which is scheduled for December 2. Texas has never faced Cincinnati but is 2-0 versus UCF. The last meeting between UT and UCF took place in Austin in 2009.

Oklahoma State, a member of the Big 12 since its inception in 1996, and West Virginia, a member since 2012, were left off Texas’ schedule. Texas was 1-1 versus those two teams last year, with the win at home versus WVU and the loss in Stillwater, Okla. against OSU.

Texas kicks off the 2023 season at home versus Rice on September 2.

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