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Last week, the UCLA athletic department was criticized for running ads in the Fresno Bee and on radio hinting at a Fresno State football victory over its own Bruins in last Saturday's matchup.

The newspaper ad read, ""Fresno State vs. UCLA...So you can say, 'I was there.'" The strategy was clear: Do what you have to in order to sell tickets to the opponents.

The ad rubbed people the wrong way because of the idea that the advertising led people to believe that UCLA was rooting against its own team. By mid-week, UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero was saying the spots were a mistake.

"There is a fine line between what the [marketing department's] charge is and balancing that toward talking about marketing to the enemy, if you will," Guerrero told the LA Times. "You will see a different approach from this point forward on how we market the team. I'm not throwing anyone under the bus . . . but some things work and some things don't."

I think the marketing campaign was right on and I think the advertising was brilliant.

Here are the facts.

1. Fresno State had run out of its 9,700-ticket allotment.
2. The school is relatively close to the Rose Bowl, where UCLA plays (3 hours and 30 minute drive).
3. UCLA was already paying Fresno State $450,000 to play this game.
4. The Bruins were 1-2 going into the game and is struggling to boost attendance.
5. Fresno State was an eight-point favorite heading into the game.

There were tickets to sell. Fresno State fans likely wanted more. They could buy at the last minute because they didn't need to plan long-distance travel and the Bulldogs were the favorites. What's the big deal?

Advertising is advertising. Do what you have to do to make money as long as its ethical.

I think the shock of it all came in the fact that we've never really seen this much aggression in the history of sports marketing. I was a New Jersey Nets fan in the early 90s when all the ads were filled with marketing the opponents and the fact that it was easier and cheaper to get a seat there than in Madison Square Garden. But to suggest that your team might lose is deemed too much.

Perhaps I'm as used to this as a fan can be. As a Northwestern football junkie, I've seen the day when there were more of "them" than us. Would I have minded if the Northwestern athletic department advertised in the Ohio State student paper suggesting that the Buckeyes were going to win? No. It's all part of understanding that it's revenue and revenue ultimately helps the program. In fact, I'm a big proponent of bundling the big games with another one so that opponents actually have to pay for two seats (one game that they won't go to) in order to buy the high-profile game they want.

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Players aren't thinking about marketing campaigns when they are out on the field. No one really believes that officials within the athletic department think it's team doesn't have a chance.

Did the ad "work?" It's hard to say. But I do know this much. Fresno State did win by five and the rough count of Fresno State fans was 17,000. The final attendance was 73,963, the highest attendance of the year and about 8,600 more fans than the amount of people that showed up the week before for an in-conference matchup against Arizona.

UCLA is now 1-3, its worst start since 1983, when UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel was the team's quarterback. It's 59-0 loss to BYU was the school's worst blowout loss in 79 years.

With attendance now down 9.2 percent since last year, this is the text of the ad I'm running in Pullman, Washington, ahead of this week's home game against Washington State:

"In our last three meetings at the Rose Bowl, you've won. Come see if you can do it again."

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