Night Owl Special

Football or basketball?

um football. Think about it dude, the Georgia Dome. Why would Howland schedule a game against Auburn and play it in Georgia, and why would ABC/ESPN televise it?

Never would have guessed that Auburn would have been the type to be scared to be the next Tennessee...

Maybe, but North Carolina played Michigan State in Dec. at Ford Field and ESPN televised it. The final four was played in the Georgia Dome a few years ago. Auburn, is located in Alabama, not Georgia.

That is why I like Neuheisal because he would have the guts to do a game like that. Howland would never do anything that exciting. Howland understands ZERO percent of how college basketball is and should be marketed and I think it hurts UCLA a lot.

Wow, that woulda been fun! i wonder why auburn would squash a seemingly cush deal in thier own backyard?

Why not take the deal? How about because Chizik knows he doesn't have the spirit-fingers-inspiring charisma of the Hello Kiffins...

Lose the first game of the season at on the road to the Bruins in a down year = adding to the 8.1% unemployment rate (*Cough* Fulmer *Cough*)

Lose the first game of the season AT HOME to the Bruins in a slightly less down year = riots in the streets of 'Bama over why in h%@# a guy with a 5-19 record was hired to coach the might Tigers

The truth is, we're SO BAD that a down team in the SEC wouldn't dare take the chance of losing to us for fear of what it would do to their credibility...

Trust me, I BLEED blue and gold, but even I know that losing to us at home would be a monumental embarrassment...

Spot on Gubon!

I think Howland understands that no matter what he does during the regular season he has to win a title. And a title is not won during the regular season on the road against Auburn! He wants to get the highest seed so he has the easiest road to make UCLA fans happy (wait is that possible?). So this whole "marketing"...yuo can talk about it all you want and trust me I am a season ticket holder, I want some better teams coming to Pauley but I understand his mindset and if you really think about it you would too.

SCARED!!!!! LOL

was season was that for??? whats a good auburn blog to go and rag on them? lol

I doubt they meant for this season. I think starting in 2010 we should be a perennial top 10 team, so this whole thing about them losing to us would be too embarrassing...not buying it. Auburn has incredible D, but their offense sucked as bad as ours last year. I'm sure its hard enough recruiting for them already, but a loss to a non conference team in UGA territory would be too much of a risk.

Why not 'Bama, Jawja, or Florida? We've beaten 'Bama AT 'Bama (during the Toledo years), and I'd be interested to see us play the likes of a perennial SEC team like a Jawja or Florida.

To me, college sports are about the journey of the season, Basketball, because it has such a big post-season tournament, allows teams to go out and make news and create exciting matchups. UCLA is already on the hook for a big Pauley renovation and UCLA is leaving money on the table by not playing a more attractive basketball schedule.

BlueBruin,

Every year we're scheduled for a Pre-season Tournament, Wooden Classic, and Pac-10 Big-12 Challenge in addition to grueling Pac-10 play (granted this past season was a down year for Pac-10). Why would Coach Howland add another tough matchup opponent?

Anon 10:39 - UCLA along with several other Pac 10 teams would love to schedule home and home games with top tier SEC folks. The rub is that many of these SEC teams would NEVER venture out west save for a once in a blue moon exception in Georgia visiting Tempe last year. Many SEC teams calculate that they can schedule cream puff non-conference games with the knowledge that the SEC conference is marketed well (thanks CBS and ESPN) and strong enough to overcome criticism of a weak non-conference slate. Florida has played this card several times over which is too bad as I believe many college football fans would like to see big time non-conference match-ups.

I thought the SEC only feared the other Southern California school.

Where's the additional infomation about this story? I can't find anything on it.

LSU travels west too. They stomped Arizona in Tucson a few years ago and had a home and home with ASU get canceled with ASU because of Katrina and still traveled to Tempe. Actually they are coming back to Tempe in 2013.

Shame on Auburn