Even though Ohio State didn’t make the College Football Playoff, its final game of the season still drew as many TV viewers as a CFP semifinal.
ESPN announced Tuesday that an average of 16.6 million people watched the Rose Bowl, the same number of average viewers as Alabama’s College Football Playoff semifinal win over Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl. Ohio State’s 48-45 win over Utah drew an average of only 600,000 fewer viewers than Georgia’s College Football Playoff semifinal win over Michigan in the Orange Bowl.
Ratings for both CFP semifinals were down roughly 2 million from the previous year, when averages of 19.