photo by: Thad Allender

Kansas fans wave the wheat after scoring a touchdown in the first half against Kansas State on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

With West Virginia’s divorce from the Big East becoming official this morning, the Big 12 Conference was free to release its much anticipated football schedules for the 2012 college football season.

The Kansas University program will open and close 2012 with the two Big 12 newcomers, as the Jayhawks are scheduled to face TCU on Sept. 15 in Lawrence in the season’s first conference game and West Virginia in Morgantown, W.Va., on Dec. 1 in the regular season finale.

Kansas’ schedule also includes home Big 12 games against Oklahoma State (Oct. 13), Texas (Oct. 27) and Iowa State (Nov. 17).

In addition to traveling to WVU, the Jayhawks will go on the road to face Kansas State (Oct. 6), Oklahoma (Oct. 20), Baylor (Nov. 3) and Texas Tech (Nov. 10).

KU’s schedule, which oddly features two bye weeks (Sept. 29 and Nov. 24), also includes non-conference foes South Dakota State (Sept. 1) and Rice (Sept. 8) at home, as well as a trip to Northern Illinois on Sept. 22, one week after the TCU match-up and one week before the first bye.

Here’s a look at the complete schedule. No kickoff times have been set as of today.

Date Opponent

Sept. 1 – SOUTH DAKOTA STATE

Sept. 8 – RICE

Sept. 15 – TCU

Sept. 22 – at Northern Illinois

Sept. 29 – Bye

Oct. 6 – at Kansas State

Oct. 13 – OKLAHOMA STATE

Oct. 20 – at Oklahoma

Oct. 27 – TEXAS (Homecoming)

Nov. 3 – at Baylor

Nov. 10 – at Texas Tech

Nov. 17 – IOWA STATE

Nov. 24 – Bye

Dec. 1 – at West Virginia