College Football TV Ratings: ESPN announces strong viewership for Playoff quarterfinals

College Football Playoff games moved to bowl sites for the quarterfinals in the new-look bracket, meaning the stakes got higher. Games also returned exclusively to ESPN, which brought in impressive TV ratings.

The Rose Bowl between Ohio State and Oregon averaged 21.1 million viewers to lead the charge – despite initially starting on ESPN2 while the Peach Bowl went to overtime. That’s a drop from last year’s average of 27.2 million viewers for the College Football Playoff semifinal between Michigan and Alabama, but it still came in as the most-watched non-NFL game since last year’s national championship.

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The Peach Bowl, however, took a huge leap forward as it landed a CFP quarterfinal matchup. Texas’ thrilling overtime win over Arizona State drew 17.3 million viewers – a major increase from last year’s game between Ole Miss and Penn State, which averaged 7.7 million.

The #CFBPlayoff Quarterfinals scored strong viewership on ESPN platforms, including:

🏈 @CollegeGameDay's most-watched #NewYearsDay episode ever
🌹 @PatMcAfeeShow Field Pass is the most-watched AltCast ever on any sport
🍑 @CFAPeachBowl is the most-watched pre-3p bowl game ever pic.twitter.com/bUmFr2s8gc

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) January 3, 2025

Notre Dame and Georgia was the third most-watched game of the quarterfinals in the Sugar Bowl despite a one-day delay from its initial 8:45 p.m. ET time slot on Wednesday. The game was postponed following a terrorist attack in New Orleans’ French Quarter, killing at least 14 people and injuring many more in the early morning hours on New Year’s Day.

That moved the Sugar Bowl back to Thursday at 4 p.m. ET. An average of 15.8 million people still tuned in to watch the Fighting Irish end a 31-year major bowl drought with a win over the Bulldogs.

Penn State vs. Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl was the first quarterfinal in a standalone window on Tuesday night. It rounded out the group with 13.9 million viewers tuning in on average.

The quarterfinal round of the College Football Playoff continued a strong TV ratings start for the new-look bracket after an impressive first round. Games aired on ESPN, ABC and TNT to open the CFP, and overall viewership increased for the first-ever CFP quarterfinals.

The semifinals are now set as the bracket moves along. Ohio State and Texas will square off in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 9, and Notre Dame will take on Penn State in the semifinal at the Orange Bowl in Miami on Jan. 10. The winners of those games will then advance to the College Football Playoff national championship Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.