The Big XII Championship game was first played in 1996 when the Big Eight Conference merged with four teams from the Southwest Conference. In the first ever Championship game, the #3 ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers were upset by unranked Texas, 37-27, as 20.5-point dogs. Then in 1999, #2 Nebraska defeated #12 Texas 22-6 as eight point favorites. Now in 2009, these two will meet once again with the favorite #2 Texas (12-0) laying much more on the line as they are in the driver’s seat to the BCS Championship game. This game will be played in the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas with Nebraska designated as the neutral field home team.

Texas owns the top offense in the conference scoring 43 points per game and will face a stout Black Shirt defense that is allowing an astonishing 11.1 points per contest. They are holding conference opponents to just 282 total yards per game and will have a difficult task against the Texas offense that is averaging over 513 total yards in their last three games. Oddsmakers have the Longhorns as two touchdown favorites.

The last time the Longhorns were in the Big XII Championship they pounded Colorado 70-3, the same year they won the BCS Championship over USC. They have defeated the Cornhuskers in seven of their last eight meetings. In the last meeting between these two teams, Texas won 28-25 as 20.5-point favorites. These two have combined to go Under the total in five of their last six meetings.

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