The ISU football team has released its full schedule for the 2012 season on Tuesday, according to a news release.

The nonconference schedule was already set in stone, but the conference schedule was not released until Tuesday because of West Virginia’s previous legal issues with the Big East Conference, which it is leaving at the end of this athletic season.

Iowa State will play seven home games for the first time since 2010, when it went 4-3 at Jack Trice Stadium. Last season, the six home football games averaged more than 50,000 fans for the first time in school history.

“Any time you get a chance to play more games at Jack Trice Stadium than you do on the road, it’s a positive to begin with, but it’s our job to make it the true advantage that it is by how we play,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads. “But we’re anxious and excited about that opportunity, especially in the league having five home games compared to four on the road.”

One season after facing a school record seven ranked teams in a season, the Cyclones have nine teams on their schedule that won a minimum of seven games last season. Six of those nine teams won a minimum of 10 games last season.

“It seems like it never lessens for us,” Rhoads said. “We go from having what most would argue was the second-toughest schedule in the country to [another season] in the deepest league in the country.

“You play in this league, you’re going to be challenged every week, and the way our nonconference schedule remains, it’s always that way with the entire schedule as well.”

The Cyclones will be playing TCU and West Virginia as conference opponents for the first time in 2012. They will be traveling to Fort Worth, Texas, to take on the Horned Frogs on Oct. 6 and hosting the Mountaineers in the regular-season finale on Nov. 24.

“It brings something new to the fan base, it certainly brings new preparation to us,” Rhoads said of having new conference opponents. “But you’re talking about two programs that arguably have been as good as any or at least most [teams] in this past decade.

“What a great challenge that issues to us and everybody else in the Big 12, but it also helps strengthen the power of what the Big 12 is across this great country.”

Iowa State is 0-3 all time against TCU, including a 27-24 loss in the 2005 Houston Bowl. Iowa State has never played West Virginia in its history.

Iowa State also will be hosting Baylor for its Homecoming game on Oct. 27.

Iowa State last hosted Baylor for its Homecoming game in 2009, winning 24-10. Iowa State is 5-5 all-time against Baylor.

The season opener for the Cyclones will be on Sept. 1, when they host Tulsa.