Like what you see?  Forget about it.

"Oops! I did it again."  That line is more than an old Brittany Spears' song. These days it's more like athletic director Jay Jacobs' mantra.  Just when it seemed Jacobs was beginning to get a little positive traction from the job football coach Gene Chizik has done early on, he goes and thumbs his nose at ABC Sports and an opportunity to be the headliner for the opening weekend of the 2010 college football season. And we think ESPN hates us now.

The response by Auburn fans over the news that Jacobs passed on the opportunity to play UCLA at the Georgia Dome on national television has been met with mostly outrage - and for good reason.  Considering the string of bad press that has come Auburn's way over the past six months, you'd think school officials would jump at the opportunity to be the marquee game to kickoff a football season.

When you play in the SEC with the likes of Florida, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee and Alabama you jump at the chance to get an advantage in exposure. The ineptness of this athletic department becomes more mind-boggling by the minute.

Forget the lame arguments being made by Jacobs for not playing the Bruins. Do you honestly believe that Arkansas State would have a problem rescheduling its game with Auburn for the following season if they were guaranteed nearly $1 million? Why not throw them a bone and offer to play them for two years if they agree to the change?

It hurts to say it, but simply put, Auburn officials wimped out.

Don't give me this crap that Auburn plays Clemson two weeks later and two tough non-conference opponents are too much. Who says that UCLA or Clemson will be much better than they were this past season? Lord knows Auburn should be better.

I'll remind Coach Chizik that Pat Dye, a man who's apparently a mentor to him, played Texas, Florida State and Maryland during the 1983 SEC Championship Season. All three of those non-conference teams were in the top 20. That season established Auburn as the dominant power in the SEC and things stayed that way for almost a decade.

The only real negative to playing UCLA in Atlanta is the loss of a home game. However, until a few years ago, seven home games were the most a school could hope for in a season. That would still be the case in 2010.

So instead of packing the Georgia Dome with orange and blue in what essentially would have been a home game, Auburn fans will be relegated to welcoming Arkansas State in a meaningless opener on a hot Saturday night. There will be no, "You're looking live at the Georgia Dome" from Brent Musburger. Instead there will probably be a crowd of 78,000 that will be announced as more than 84,000 at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Thanks Jay.  I can hardly wait.