It is third down and long for the University of Hawaii in its bid to add a 13th game for the rapidly approaching 2014 football season.

A deal for a prospective opponent to come to Aloha Stadium recently fell through, but "we’re right back out there trying to find somebody else," athletic director Ben Jay said. "We still want to make that game happen, if we can."

The Rainbow Warriors have played 12 games each of the past two seasons but are permitted as many as 13 regular-season games under a special NCAA exemption.

UH officials said they would like to add an eighth home game both for revenue purposes and to give the team a better chance at another victory. UH is 4-20 over the past two years and has played six home games in each of them.

Associate AD Carl Clapp, who oversees scheduling, said UH will have two open dates in 2014 if it is unable to add a 13th game.

For 2014, UH already has nonconference games with Washington, Oregon State, Colorado (road) and Northern Iowa and will play an eight-game Mountain West schedule.

Jay said his preference is for a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent, either a mid-major program or a lower-end team from one of the so-called BCS conferences.

"We already have one (Football Championship Subdivision) team on the schedule (Northern Iowa) and I really don’t want to do two," Jay said.

Under NCAA rules only one victory over an FCS team may be counted toward bowl eligibility.

"But that narrows down your prospects," Jay said. So, too, Clapp said, does the preference of several teams to stay at 12 games. In addition, UH is limited in how much of a guarantee it can offer.

A spokesman for the Mountain West Conference said, "We hope to have a (conference) schedule out towards the end of February."

Clapp said the conference has been working with UH to leave it some room to schedule, possibly in early December. "I’ll keep looking (for an opponent) until they tell me to stop," Clapp said.