(AP/Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Alabama's win over Clemson in Monday night's National Championship pulled in 25.7 million viewers on ESPN, which served as a 24 percent drop from last year's title game between Ohio State and Oregon.
That Ohio State-Oregon game, the first championship of the four-team playoff era, brought in 33.8 million viewers.
That drop has generated a lot of talk. Is part of it nothing more than the fact that the Buckeyes, almost inarguably the biggest TV draw in college football, weren't there?
In a game between teams from Alabama and South Carolina, the bigger viewing markets were obviously in the south, but Columbus still checked in.