Ohio State’s blowout win over No. 1 Oregon at the Rose Bowl was viewed by a substantial national audience.
ESPN announced on Friday that the Buckeyes’ 41-21 College Football Playoff quarterfinal round rout of the unbeaten Ducks drew an average 21.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched non-NFL sporting event since the 2024 CFP national title game between Michigan and Washington.
It’s also the first Ohio State football game to eclipse 21 million viewers since 2022 when 22.45 million viewers tuned in to watch the Buckeyes’ CFP semifinal loss to Georgia in the Peach Bowl.
The Rose Bowl — which peaked at 24.3 million viewers — was by far the most-watched CFP quarterfinal game. Trailing behind the game was the Peach Bowl between Texas and Arizona State, which averaged 17.3 million viewers and peaked at 23.6 million, making it the most-watched pre-3 p.m. bowl game in history.
Next up was the Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia on Thursday– which was pushed back a day due to the deadly terrorist attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Eve — at 15.8 million viewers with a peak of 19.5 million, followed by the Fiesta Bowl between Penn State and Boise State on New Year’s Eve (13.9 million, 15.9 million).
Ohio State has seemingly been must-watch TV for college football fans all year. According to Scott Docheterman and Stewart Mandel of The Athletic, it averaged 6.8 million television viewers per game in the regular season — a mark that was second-highest in the nation behind Georgia’s 8.6 million — while it has also been the most-watched game of the college football slate four times, with its games against Michigan on Nov. 30 (12.3 million), Oregon on Oct. 12 (10.2 million), Penn State on Nov. 2 (9.94 million) and Indiana on Nov. 23 (9.33 million) all claiming that label.
The Buckeyes also drew 14.3 million viewers in their 42-17 CFP first-round win over Tennessee on Dec. 21, which was the biggest TV audience of the four first-round games that weekend.
Ohio State will likely earn significant ratings numbers for its CFP semifinal matchup against Texas on Friday at the Cotton Bowl, which is set for a primetime 7:30 p.m. kickoff on ESPN.
