I want to congratulate Jim Tressel for ensuring that his Buckeyes still have a chance to play in the BCS Championship game. Since the pollsters didn’t bury the Bucks (#13?), by holding out Beanie Wells in what now turns out to be a somewhat meaningless game, Tressel’s team will have a better chance to run the table in the Big 10 - and then benefit (again) from the creaking, maddening machinery of the BCS.

With a healthy Wells, even after Saturday’s SoCal shellacking, the rest of the Big 10 is probably no match for OSU. So long as UGA, UF and Okla. lose, you can almost guarantee the Bucks a return trip to the BCS’ big game (and another rout at the hands of the Trojans). I can already hear people firing up their CPAP machines in South Beach.

(Right before I called in the airstrike to escape the fourth quarter)

That whole scenario is far-fetched, you say? Then you haven’t been paying attention to the dark ages of a once-great sport. Yes, the pageantry and atmosphere of games like OSU-USC at the Coli is what defines college football, especially when you’re there to experience it first-hand.

But Saturday as I settled into my seat at the game (thanks to My Boy Barry), I couldn’t help being pissed about Tressel not allowing Beanie to play.

Safe to say, Wells could’ve beaned up and done more than the entire Buckeye backfield that day. But Tressel & Co. are gaming the BCS to perfection. They know that to risk further injury to Wells would be to eliminate the Bucks from BCS Championship Game contention.

(Those eyes smoked me out of the ESPN 710 VIP Tent)

Now, isn’t that what the great college game is all about? Sandbagging in front of a hundi-thousand in the most-anticipated college football clash in years?

DEADSPIN Editor A.J. Daulerio spent Saturday with me, and provided the day’s only excitement. On our walk to the stadium, A.J. accidently dropped his ticket. He didn’t discover this fact until he had until we’d walked five minutes down the road.

After backtracking about 1000 feet, we found the ticket, still somehow sitting on the sidewalk. (If only the fine citizens of Watts had been more considerate, and prevented us from attending the game.)

Now onward, to some of my fun pics from the Coli collection (Rick Reilly, Billy Bush, anonymous hotties!):

Yeah, the creativity was somewhat lacking on Saturday.

You probably heard about all the high-profile celebs at the game, and we certainly weren’t disappointed. My two most awe-inspiring sightings? Seeing Billy Bush in the 91st row …

(Personal thanks to Daulerio for pointing out to me who Billy Bush was)

And liver spotting Rick Reilly as he struggled with concession stand cupholders.

Yes, it was the hefty haul of glitz and glamour that you would expect from the entertainment capital of the planet.

Leftovers:

(Fun Zone = Sign up for spam emails about a free vaca to Guatemala City!)

(Two of our lovely, tailgate party hosts)

(Mandatory ingestion of one every 3,000 miles a little-known L.A. County law)

(A.J. and Ryan of USCFootball.com who enabled my Smirnoff & Sunny Delightful day!)