Tennessee is in the process of adding a 12th opponent to its football schedule in 2007.

UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said Wednesday that the Vols have agreed in principle to a deal that would bring Northern Illinois to Neyland Stadium on Sept. 22, 2007.

"We have not finalized the game, but we have the contract here and we’ll send it to them to be signed,’’ Hamilton said. "We were already scheduled to play them in 2010, but now we’ve brought them forward to 2007. We will not play them in 2010.’’

Hamilton said the teams are still discussing playing each other in 2013.

The NCAA is allowing teams to play 12 games a season, starting in 2006.

Northern Illinois is located in DeKalb, Ill., and is a member of the Mid-American Conference. In 2003, the Huskies upset Alabama and No. 13 Maryland in overtime.

John Peters, a former UT provost, is the president of Northern Illinois, and former UT assistant athletic director Jim Phillips is the school’s athletic director.

The Vols other non-conference games in 2007 are at home against Southern Miss, at home against Central Florida and at California.

Hamilton said he’s not concerned that the game with Cal could be moved to another site because of renovation scheduled to take place in the Golden Bears’ home stadium.

"The main thing for us was having the trip to northern California from a recruiting standpoint,’’ he said.