Who is Texas footballs non-traditional rival?
Before anyone loses their mindOklahoma is Texas most traditional rival, so they will not be in consideration here. Now that we have that part out of the way, ESPN recently posed an interesting question to college football fans.   ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) June 5, 2021  A common theme that can be seen every time Texas takes the field, is that they get every opposing teams best shot regardless of whether the Longhorns are contending or not. As of late, they have not been contending for anything besides an Alamo Bowl appearance. That doesnt change the fact that beating Texas is something that gives programs an joy or sense of accomplishment as if they are knocking off the top ranked team in the nation. Losing to Kansas in 2016 is something that Texas fans will live down, regardless of the fact that the Longhorns were in the final year of the dreadful Charlie Strong era in which they finished 5-7. With that being said, there is only one option that fits the bill, and that is TCU. There are many teams that hate Texas, like Iowa State or Baylor, but although those teams and fanbases despise the Longhorns, that feeling is not really mutual. When it comes to Texas and TCU, the teams have the historical aspect, as they first played one another in 1897. Geographically speaking, there is only 2.5 hours between the two schools. Likely the biggest factor of the rivalry is that Texas absolutely owned TCU from the late 60s to early 90s winning 24 straight meetings. When TCU left the Mountain West Conference to join the Big 12 in the 2012 season, the matchup became a lot less one sided. At least in favor of Texas. TCU has won 7 out of the 10 meetings and has snatched a couple recruits away from Texas like wide receiver Quentin Johnston. The games have not even been that close as TCUs defense has absolutely dominated Texas since joining the Big 12. There likely is not a non-Oklahoma team that Texas fans and even the program itself hates more. The Longhorns should likely yearn to make TCU little brother again, and hopefully the offense can figure out a way to score more than the average 14 points against the Horned Frogs.