Last week LSU announced it would pay Tulane $700,000 to end the teams’ contractual obligation to play six more annual matchups.This isn’t something heard very often — especially with the country in a recession — but the payout was 700 large well spent.The buyout opens up an out-of-conference game for the Tigers every year through 2015, and LSU has already upgraded next season’s non-conference game to a new contest with a much more worthy opponent, North Carolina, in the 2010 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic.This trend needs to continue. LSU is on the right track with scheduling UNC and dropping Tulane, and should make it a priority to place a strong team as an early opponent on the schedule every season.Maybe it’s because I’m young and thus suffer from a skewed historical perspective in regard to Tulane and the supposed history that goes along with that rivalry and the beloved “Tiger Rag” the schools play for, but I couldn’t have been happier to see this change.Setting up games so far in advance with teams that are not traditionally powerhouses runs a very high risk that might not be worth the investment. Especially if one team, such as LSU, wins the Southeastern Conference Western Division and BCS titles, and the other becomes the laughingstock of Conference USA.Now LSU fans might have the opportunity to see an actual good football opponent, much like the one LSU faced to open this season. No one expected Washington, a team which went 0-12 in 2008, to give the Tigers much of a contest, but the Huskies held their own against LSU.For LSU, it was supposed to be a nice trip to Seattle where the Tigers would unmercifully pummel their less-skilled opponent until they could pummel no more.But even with the perceived pummeling apparent prior to the game, it was still a worthwhile game to play because teams from conferences with automatic BCS berths just look better on the schedule than mid-majors and Football Championship Subdivision schools.The game didn’t turn out like the beating it was supposed to, and LSU got Washington’s best shot and escaped the Pacific Northwest with a hard-fought 31-23 victory.The game wasn’t nearly as close as the final score would suggest, but the Huskies still gave LSU a challenge — something the rest of its non-conference foes are unlikely to do this season, which is a shame.The Tigers’ other non-conference opponents this season are Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana Tech and Tulane.In the four matchups between LSU and Tulane since the series was revamped in 2006, the Tigers are undefeated and hold a dominating 118–26 scoring advantage. ULL hasn’t scored a touchdown on LSU since the Warren G. Harding administration, and Louisiana Tech is 1-17 all-time against LSU.The Tigers wouldn’t get any better if they played these same opponents yearly. They just don’t offer the level of competition necessary for the Tigers to master their trade.The only winner in those games is the lesser team. They come out with a fat paycheck and sometimes even a win.The big school comes away with a cheap “W,” a game looked down upon by the voters in November and a potentially huge embarrassment if someone is to fall like Michigan did against Appalachian State in 2007.The last time (before Washington) LSU played a BCS team early in the season, the Tigers trounced Virginia Tech in their home opener, and it became a signature win for LSU’s BCS title hopes.A place on even the best football programs’ schedules still exists for the so-called “cupcake” matchups, so it will be inevitable teams of this ilk will show up on the schedule, but a 10-year contract is just a bad idea.The only long-term contracts for playing dates LSU should sign are ones in place to play teams like Oklahoma, Arizona State and the return match scheduled with Washington for 2012.——Contact Jonathan Brooks at [email protected]