Thanksgiving treat

Wisconsin v Minnesota has a long history

Thanksgiving traditionally marks the biggest weekend for football in the United States, as BBC Sport Online's Kevin Asseo reports.

Thanksgiving weekend in the US is a time for family gatherings, feasts and festivities.

And, of course, football.

During this traditional holiday time, wall-to-wall football is the order of the day, and not simply any football games - but matches between fierce rivals.

The oldest rivalries in America are played over Thanksgiving weekend in a ritual that goes as far back as the sport itself.

Turkey is not the only Thanksgiving tradition

Much as Boxing Day in the UK is a traditionally a time for local derbies, so is it with Thanksgiving in the US.

At every level of the sport - from schoolboy football to the NFL - cross-town, cross-state or even cross-country, rivals meet in what may not be the most important games of the year, but are certainly the most emotional.

This is the only weekend of the year that gives American workers four days off (Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are work days, but everyone gets to stay home on the Friday after Thanksgiving) and every football organisation in the land takes advantage by scheduling its most anticipated games.

Starting early Thursday (Thanksgiving) morning and continuing nearly non-stop until late Sunday night, most television screens throughout the nation are tuned exclusively to football.

The games have become as much a part of the holiday weekend as the copious amounts of turkey, corn and cranberry sauce that fill Americans' tables and stomachs.

In addition to some of the most heated rivalries in American sport, Thanksgiving is also time for some of the oldest.

Texas A&M will host Texas at Kyle Field

The university teams of Minnesota and Wisconsin will play each other this weekend in what is the oldest football game in Division 1-A, college football's highest level.

It will be the 111th meeting between the schools, with the rivalry dating back to 1907.

Down South, where football is nearly a religion, all eyes will be on the Texas v Texas A&M game.

The universities will be playing for the 108th time, making it the third oldest game in Division 1-A.

Matching Texas v Texas A&M in emotion, if not age, the college football game between Ohio State and Michigan is a Thanksgiving weekend tradition which is not for the faint-hearted.

These heated contests are just a few of the many scheduled annually on this weekend, usually making it the best weekend of college football's regular season.

Not to be outdone, the NFL pulls a few tricks out of its hat for Thanksgiving as well.

Ohio State v Michigan is always keenly contested

Capitalising on the lack of college games on the holiday itself, and knowing that most football fans are home all day, the NFL has created a Thanksgiving Day tradition of its own.

Each year, the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions host home fixtures on Thanksgiving afternoon, and few NFL followers stray far from the telly when those games are shown.

Taking another page from college football's book, the NFL is keen to play as many rivalries as possible on the holiday weekend.

Ten of the 15 NFL fixtures this weekend feature intra-division rivalries.

Though most fans see the Thanksgiving games on television, some of the most passionate rivalries in football can only be experienced in person.

Local high school derbies are played on Thanksgiving weekend as well, pitting rival schools from just miles apart against each other, creating some of the most intense sporting environments anywhere.

Family, good food, and great football make the Thanksgiving weekend truly a time to savour.