Ohio State vs. Texas sets Cotton Bowl viewership record
COLUMBUS — Ohio State and Texas are two of the biggest brands in college football and college athletics — and, quite frankly, in all of sports.
The College Football Playoff semifinal matchups between the Buckeyes and Longhorns, as well as Penn State vs. Notre Dame, set record highs in viewership numbers for ESPN last week.
The Cotton Bowl between Ohio State and Texas is now officially the most-watched edition of the Cotton Bowl game in history. The average viewership for that matchup: 20.6 million. It’s also now the highest-rated Friday telecast across all networks in over four years.
The Orange Bowl between Notre Dame and Penn State averaged 17.8 million viewers, and is the most-watched version of the Orange Bowl game since 2006 and became the highest-rated non-NFL weeknight sporting broadcast since the 2019 NBA Finals.
Of course, the Cotton Bowl was played on Friday night, while Notre Dame and Penn State played in the Orange Bowl on Thursday evening.
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The Cotton Bowl peaked at 22.7 million viewers while the Orange Bowl topped out at 19.9 million. That’s a massive number for the Buckeyes and Longhorns.
Why Ohio State vs. Notre Dame in national title game could break more records
Now, the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish will meet in the national championship game on Jan. 20 — the first time these two teams will meet for a title and the third time they’ll meet in the postseason since 2006. Ohio State is 2-0 in those games, coming in 2006 and 2016.
If there are any two brands together that could outweigh Ohio State and Texas, it would be a matchup between Ohio State and Notre Dame. The Buckeyes and Fighting Irish are college football institutions. Viewership for the matchup on Monday night is expected to break college football television records.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Lettermen Row will be on-site for full coverage of the national championship beginning on Friday when the Buckeyes arrive in Atlanta.
