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Michigan football vs. Ohio State delivers staggering viewership numbers

isaiah hole
·2 min read
7

More people watched Michigan football beat Ohio State than any other game not just this season, but in any season in over a decade.

Viewership numbers are in, and the Wolverines No. 3 vs No. 2 matchup against the Buckeyes managed to get over 22 million eyeballs on The Game at its peak The average rating came in at 19.5 million viewers. That’s the highest-watched game since Alabama vs. LSU in 2011. It’s the second-highest rating for The Game, with only ‘the game of the century’ in 2006 beating it.

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With both teams ranked in the top three and controversy swirling around one of them, the latest chapter of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry trailed only their “Game of the Century” in 2006.

Ohio State-Michigan averaged a 9.0 rating and 19.07 million viewers on FOX “Big Noon Saturday” over the weekend, marking the largest audience for the rivalry since their #1 vs. #2 meeting in 2006 (21.04M) and the second-largest on record. The 9.0 rating is also the highest for the rivalry since their #2 vs. #3 matchup in 2016 (9.4) and the third-highest behind that year and 2006 (13.0). (That excludes a 1995 game that aired regionally on ABC and drew a 10.5 rating.)

The Wolverines’ win, which peaked with 22.90 million from 3:30-3:45 PM ET, delivered the largest regular season college football audience overall in 12 years — since a #1 vs. #2 matchup of LSU and Alabama in 2011 (20.01M). Keep in mind Nielsen did not begin including out-of-home viewing in its final nationals until 2020.

What’s more, there are a lot of other big events that this year’s iteration of The Game beat out.

The Game just means more.

Story originally appeared on Wolverines Wire