Non-conference football scheduling has become more important than ever, especially since it is one of the main criteria of the College Football Playoff selection committee.
LSU athletic director Joe Alleva told espn.com of the perils of scheduling games more than 10 years in advance.
"We get kind of scared," he said. "I've seen some athletic directors that are scrambling to find games, and you don't want to be scrambling one or two or three years away to find a game and then you end up paying a fortune to buy somebody to play you. It's a bad scenario if you don't have those games booked, so I think we're all taking the safe route by booking in advance so we don't have to worry about scrambling in the end.