DESTIN, Fla. -- Once upon a time, as late as 1969, college football played a 10-game regular-season schedule.

Seasons didn't start until the third Saturday in September. In the late 1950s, the season didn't begin until the last week of September. Incoming freshmen actually had a chance to attend class and locate the library before they found the practice field.

But as stadiums and facilities grew and improved, with the added expense of fielding a full compliment of women's sports, and with the glut of TV entities willing to pay to telecast games any day of the week, the demand for athletic departments to find revenue sources has intensified.

Which is why SEC football coaches and athletic directors, at the annual league business meetings that started here on Tuesday at the Sandestin Beach Hilton, are discussing how to make a smooth transition to the recently-approved NCAA measure that Division 1-A teams can play a 12-game regularseason schedule starting in 2006.

"I don't particularly like it, but I understand the financial pressures of why we need a 12th game," Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said. "(Tennessee athletic director) Mike Hamilton said the University of Tennessee needed it. I talked to several of our kids, and they'd rather practice than play a game during an open date."

You won't find an athletic directorwho won't want a 12th game, because in most cases that means another home game. In the SEC, a home game can generate a net revenue between $1.5 and $3 million.

Twice before, in 2002 and 2003, the NCAA allowed 12-game regular seasons because there were 14 Saturdays between Labor Day weekend and the last Saturday in November. It wouldn't have occurred again until 2008.

The 12-game schedule means teams will have just one open date, not two. Consider that teams will play 12 games in 13 weeks, and 13 in 14 weeks for the two teams qualifying for the SEC championship game.

"I don't like the fact we're going to lose an open date," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "Strategically, it's nice to have an open date four or five games into the season, and then later on with about four games left."

The increased schedule also has drawn the ire of critics who say it flies in the face of the NCAA's increased academic standards, that grades schools on progress towards a degree and graduation rates. Schools which meet the minimum scores could lose scholarships.

Georgia president Michael Adams voted against a 12th game.

"The season is already too long," said Adams, also one of 11 members of the Knight Commission, a private foundation that promotes reforms and increased presidential control in college athletics. "We're pushing the limits what's best for student-athletes. There's too much wear and tear on the players."

Arkansas coach Houston Nutt, who has coached in Division 1AA which has a playoff system, said he understands the injury concern.

"If you ask the kids, they always want to play another game," Nutt said. "But you're hoping you're not getting too beat up."

Surprisingly, NCAA president Myles Brand, who often has been deemed a dissenting voice in college athletics, defends the approval of a 12-game season.

"There hasn't been any evidence about the negative academic consequences of a longer in season," Brand said. "Those years (2002-03) that we had 12 games, the football student-athletes improved their graduation rate. They did as well or better academically."

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier is one of the few coaches who endorses a 12th game without reservations.

"I'm shocked that some of this university presidents say it (a 12th game) is too much for football players, yet baseball plays about 72 games, and our basketball team this year had a season that lasted almost seven months because of a preseason Canadian tour," Spurrier said. "And we've got presidents who are worried about playing another football game on an open date? I don't understand that."

Perhaps the area that coaches and athletic directors must find a compromise is scheduling an opponent for that 12th game.

Faced with a challenging eightgame conference schedule and then possibly a date in the league championship game, SEC coaches have mixed feelings about scheduling nationally-recognized teams.

"I'd like to schedule a (nonconference) team equal or better than us," Spurrier said.

Fans, though, many of which are season ticket holders who have to pay hefty donation fees for prime seat locations, then who must pay for the price of the tickets, feel they should be annually treated to at least one "name" non-conference opponent.

During the 12-game seasons of 2002-03 when there were such intriguing home-and-home series like Auburn vs. Southern Cal, Tennessee vs. Miami (Fla.), Mississippi State-Oregon, Ole MissTexas Tech and Alabama-Oklahoma.

"We'd like to see institutions use that game for good intersectional games, games that would appeal to our TV partners (CBS, ESPN, ESPN2 and Jefferson Pilot)," SEC commissioner Mike Slive said.

But athletic directors, such as LSU's Skip Bertman, say scheduling name teams isn't a given.

"You'd like to have one highlevel opponent on the schedule every year, but you also have to be reasonable," Bertman said. "It's great to talk about playing the Florida States or Oklahomas. But with the SEC schedule we play and when one loss can knock you out of the national championship race, you don't want two games against someone like a Miami or a USC."

The NCAA has given athletic directors as an easy way out. In approving the 12-game schedule, the NCAA also approved a change starting this season that allows Division 1-A schools to count a victory against I-AA teams each season toward bowl eligibility. Previously, those victories could be counted once every four years.

But that doesn't mean athletic directors necessarily will start loading their schedules with 1AA foes.

"Our intent is to always have a good, strong non-conference home-and-home opponent," Mississippi State athletic director Larry Templeton said. "It gives your program national visibility and gives your coaches opportunities to expand their recruiting to various parts of the country."