IRVING, Texas — If OU and Texas move their historic football rivalry away from October and the Texas State Fair, they'll do so without a push from the Big 12 Conference. So said commissioner Dan Beebe during the league's football media days Tuesday.

''The major consideration is to keep the traditions of the conference as well as we can, and the tradition of that game has been around the state fair," Beebe said. "I don't see that really being something that we would want to mess with.

''It's just too important to those institutions, this region and so forth."

With the impending departure of Nebraska and Colorado, the Big 12 does not plan to stage a football championship game after this season. To fill the void, Beebe has said the league likely will move one or two marquee games to the first Saturday in December.

But not OU-Texas.

''Unless they decide to do something differently, we're going to plan to continue to try to keep those traditions," Beebe said. "Just like Texas and Texas A&M tradition has been moved back to Thanksgiving Day.

''Institutions may change their minds, but I think we're looking at continuing what we've had traditionally in a lot of those relationships."

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