Iowa State’s attempt to gain another opponent after its season-opening cancellation has gotten more difficult.

Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard said during the Cyclones’ weekly coaches radio show that a series of waivers the school submitted to the NCAA's Football Issues Oversight Committee were shot down.

“It’s still a work in progress,” Pollard said of trying to find another opponent.

The challenge is finding someone to replace Iowa State’s first game of the season against South Dakota State. That game was canceled after lightning struck in the first quarter, sending both teams back to the locker room. The ugly weather never allowed them to resume the game.

Pollard has been searching for a replacement opponent ever since. And it hasn’t been easy trying to find an FCS opponent that is either free or has only 11 games on its schedule. FCS teams can only play 11-game schedules. But the Cyclones have tried combating that problem.

One route the Cyclones tried to go was to schedule a game against a non-scholarship program. In fact, Pollard said Drake was their “first preference” and they had even been working with Bulldogs athletics director Brian Hardin and their football coach Rick Fox to schedule a game on Dec. 1. But the Cyclones would have needed a waiver to play the Bulldogs, who are a part of the Pioneer Football League, a non-scholarship conference. Pollard said that waiver was shot down.

“They just decided that they wouldn’t approve that wavier because it wouldn’t be fair to all the other schools that we were going to try to count a win against a non-scholarship football program,” Pollard said.

PREVIOUSLY: Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard trying to find another opponent

Pollard said they also submitted a waiver so that one of the 19 FCS teams free on Oct. 20 could get an extra game added to their schedule. That was also denied.

“The rational, evidently, was that if any one of those FCS teams played us, they would change their strength of schedule and the calculation that gets used for FCS playoffs,” Pollard said.

Pollard said a third waiver was also denied.

"We put in a request that said if we could get one of the two teams that have games available that are eligible to play us on Dec. 1 but if they were not able to play because they were in their FCS playoffs or they were in a conference championship game, would we be able to be bowl eligible if we were at five FBS wins," Pollard said. "And that was also denied."

Pollard said they're still looking for a team to play them on Dec. 1 and agreeing to terms on a contract. If a game does get scheduled and Iowa State makes the Big 12 championship game, then the Cyclones wouldn't be able to play it, possibly creating another interesting schedule problem.

"If we can get a team to play us on Dec. 1, we will play the game, regardless of how many games we've won," Pollard said. "So if we're already bowl eligible, we'll still play it. If we can't even win the game and become bowl eligible, we'll still play it. Because it'd be a great opportunity for development under the new freshman rule."

Every win now matters for Iowa State, which no longer has the luxury of a South Dakota State game under its belt. Iowa State opened the season with a 13-3 loss to the Hawkeyes and now has No. 5 Oklahoma coming to Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday. Iowa State will need to go 6-4 in its final 10 game schedule, which includes four ranked opponents, to be bowl eligible.

MORE:Here's how Twitter reacted to Iowa State's crazy canceled game