College football teams scrambling to find 12th opponent

The scramble is on for college football teams as they look to fill an expanded schedule beginning in 2006. The NCAA Board of Directors last week approved a 12-game schedule starting with the 2006 season. The Iowa State Cyclones have an open date on September 23rd of that season and coach Dan McCarney hopes to fill that date with a home game. He says with most of the teams having an open week built in, that’s probably where they’ll put in the game. He says everyone is burning up the phones trying to schedule games. McCarney says with the expanded schedule their goal is to have seven home games per season. He says not everyone in the country can have seven home games. He says it gives the team an advantage on the field and financially.McCarney says one-double-a opponents could be part of the schedule in the future because they will be looking for teams that don’t insist on a home and home series. He says they’ll do everything they can while keeping their common sense.Iowa has a hole in its schedule in 2006. The Hawkeyes don’t have a game on October 28th, leaving that date as a spot for a 12th game