When No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan met in the Horseshoe in Columbus on Saturday more was on the line besides bragging rights with your friends. The number one ranking in college football, an outright big ten conference championship and a guaranteed spot on the national title game in Glendale in seven weeks were also up for grabs. The game was being billed by many television pundits as the 'Game of the Century' and 'Judgment day, but would it live up to the hype on and off the field? I was in Columbus for the game to take in the atmosphere, have a good time, and experience what would be the biggest and best-played college football game since I can remember. For your benefit, I documented all the day's action.

9:30 a.m.'The campus population must have at least doubled for the day. I see a line of at least 100 people, most hoping to recover with McDonald's breakfast, from the building all the way to high street. It is incredible to see the amount of people who have migrated to Columbus for the game. And for most of them, the festivities started early. There seems to be 5 or 6 raucous house parties on every block. Traffic is slow moving and people are jammed shoulder-to-shoulder on the sidewalks; I hear many murmurs along the lines of '3:30 can get here soon enough'

11:59 a.m.'ESPN's College Gameday, which was broadcast live on campus before the game, is ending with the analysts making their picks for the winners of the games that day. Placing a Michigan helmet on his head, notable commentator Lee Corso selects UM to win the game. The people viewing Gameday in my vicinity all agreed that his selection was a good sign: Corso's selections are never right.

2:00 p.m.'Walking to my game-time destination with two huge Notre Dame fans, both wearing bright green jerseys. As we pass each house one of two things are yelled in our general direction: either 'Go Irish' or obscenities about Notre Dame. We walk past former Ohio State running back and Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George's sports bar and grill, I look inside and see so many people that fire marshal would cringe. I keep glancing at the time, but my wait is almost over, kickoff is within the hour,

2:45 p.m.'A friend sells the 4 parking spots available behind his rented home for sixty dollars per spot. Amazingly, people are willing to pay the fee. Curious, I ask a scalper how much for the cheapest pair of tickets he has. The reply was 1700 dollars; I wondered whether I could trade him my car for the tickets.

3:34 p.m.'A week of anticipation for the entire city culminates when Ohio States Aaron Pettrey kicks off to Michigan's Steve Breaston.

3:42 p.m.'Columbus has never been so quiet as Michigan easily takes the opening kickoff and marches down the field and scores on a one-yard Mike Hart touchdown run. Ohio State's Heisman candidate (probably the run away winner after his performance) Troy Smith answers the opening score with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Roy Hall 6 minutes later.

4:37 p.m.'Ohio State freshman Chris Wells scampers for a 52-yard touchdown run with 13:57 to go in the 2nd quarter. The buckeyes would score touchdowns twice more before halftime and never looked back.

5:17 p.m.'Pizzas are ordered at halftime; unfortunately they would not be delivered until there was 2 minutes left in the game. I can not begin to imagine how many hot wings and pepperoni pizzas were consumed by the campus throughout the day.

7:12 p.m.'Ted Ginn Jr. recovers an onside kick with 1:37 left in the game, sealing the victory for Ohio State. The block I am on erupts: A fire is lit and quickly extinguished by police in the street in front of the house, the fight song blares from 4 or 5 different houses, and I spot someone giving themselves a champagne shower.

7:41 p.m.'Walking on high street after the game and stadium has let out was quite an experience. 200,000 people and after a victory everyone is your friend, strangers are giving high-fives to each other, and police officers directing traffic are giving hugs to people. With Ohio State's victory The National championship game was no longer taboo to be discussed, it was everyone's topic of conversation. Unfortunately, football fans have to wait 50 days for the national title to be decided in Glendale, Arizona on Jan. 8. I'm sure Columbus doesn't mind the wait