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College Football TV Ratings: ESPN draws huge viewership for Ohio State vs. Notre Dame national championship

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•about 10 hours•

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Ohio State celebrates the 2025 national championship
© Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Through the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, ESPN was able to capitalize with some huge TV ratings wins. It all culminated with a record showing for Monday’s national championship between Ohio State and Notre Dame.

The Buckeyes’ title victory averaged 22.1 million million viewers, ESPN announced Wednesday. That’s the most-watched game of the expanded College Football Playoff, but a decrease from last year’s national championship between Washington and Michigan, which averaged 25.05 million.

The national championship was hours after President Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony, but coverage continued throughout the day. That could have played a role in the drop in viewership from 2024. Still, the title game was the most watched sporting event – outside of the NFL – since last year’s championship.

ESPN had plenty of momentum through the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, which started with games on campus sites and with two games on TNT through an agreement to sublicense games. Starting with the quarterfinals, ESPN became the exclusive home of the CFP once again, and the Rose Bowl notably came in as the most-watched non-NFL sporting event since last year’s national championship with 21.1 million viewers. The national championship just snuck past that number.

The semifinals then brought in the most-watched Cotton Bowl on record and the second-most watched Orange Bowl in 20 years after Kirk Herbstreit dubbed the final four teams a “ratings bonanza” while speaking with On3’s Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman on Andy & Ari On3. That set the table for a College Football Playoff national championship primed for a big TV ratings night as two of college football’s biggest brands squared off.

How it happened: Ohio State wins national title

Notre Dame put together an opening drive for the ages to take a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. From there, it became all Ohio State as the Buckeyes took a 24-7 lead into halftime and, eventually, a 31-7 advantage in the third quarter.

But the Fighting Irish didn’t back down. Riley Leonard connected with Jaden Greathouse, who broke multiple tackles to find the end zone and make it a 31-15 game after the two-point conversion. Notre Dame then got its first turnover and got to the red zone, but Marcus Freeman opted to send out the field goal unit. Mitch Jeter’s attempt went off the upright, giving Ohio State the ball back.

The Buckeyes then punted again, and Leonard found Greathouse for his second touchdown of the day, and a creative two-point conversion made it a one-score game. Ohio State then tried to churn clock, but the offense started to stall. That is, until Jeremiah Smith re-entered the picture.

Will Howard found the elite freshman for a 57-yard pass to all but seal the game. A Jayden Fielding field goal was the icing on the cake, cementing the Buckeyes’ 34-23 victory to win their first national title under Ryan Day and cap off an impressive run through the CFP to bounce back from a loss to Michigan to end the regular season.

What’s next for the College Football Playoff?

For the CFP, though, it meant the end of a new era. The 12-team College Football Playoff created the longest season in the history of the sport, although it paid off with big TV ratings victories.

However, there are still questions about whether changes could be in the works. The management committee met in Atlanta this week, but nothing came out of those conversations, although On3’s Pete Nakos reported changes could still be possible in the future.

From a TV standpoint, two first-round games went directly against the NFL and drew the lowest viewership of those four contests. As for how the league and the CFP can avoid further conflicts, executive director Rich Clark said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell remains “committed” to working on future scheduling.