Notre Dame-Clemson The Most Watched College Football Game Of 2020
Notre Dame’s Nov. 7 match with Clemson was the first top-five college football matchup in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The night game included a combined total of 87 points and 991 yards, plus two overtimes and the Fighting Irish victory ended the Tigers' 36-game regular-season win streak.
“We won the football game,” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said after the game, “and I'm certainly excited about that, but more so, when you watch your players exhibit resolve and exhibit grit and refuse to lose a football game against the No. 1 team in the country, that by the way hadn't lost in 36 regular-season games, that's the special part about coaching these guys at Notre Dame.”
Given so much excitement, it should come as no surprise that the game also set a 27-year viewership high and is the most-watched college football game of the 2020 season.
The contest finished with a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 10.17 million viewers, more than any other Notre Dame game on NBC other than the program’s 1993 31-24 win over No. 1 Florida State that had 22.02 million viewers.
What's interesting about this game is that 64 minutes in the middle of the broadcast were moved to the USA Network (a cable television channel also owned by NBCUniversal) due to President-elect Joe Biden's address to the nation around 8 p.m. that evening.
Still, the Notre Dame-Clemson game narrowly surpassed the Oct. 17 Alabama-Georgia SEC matchup, where the No. 2 Crimson Tide defeated the No. 3 Bulldogs 41-24 on CBS. The game featured 9.669 million viewers
After four Notre Dame home broadcasts this fall, NBC is averaging 5.27 million viewers (this excludes the Notre Dame home game against South Florida that aired on the USA Network).
Per a press release, this is the best ratings start NBC has had for a Notre Dame season since 2005. That season included the fourth most viewed Fighting Irish home game on NBC ever, a 34-31 loss to then-No. 1 USC—the game that infamously included the "Bush Push."
The third most viewed Notre Dame game on NBC occurred in 1994 when the No. 3 Fighting Irish hosted the No. 6 Michigan Wolverines, losing 26-24. That season, Notre Dame went on to a 6-5-1 record that represented the second-worst season with former head coach Lou Holtz at the helm (behind only his 5-6 campaign in 1986, his first season in South Bend).
Notre Dame-NBC partnership is in the midst of its 30th season and the current contract between the two parties extends through 2025.
| Date | Opponent | Notre Dame Rank | Viewers (000) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Nov. 13, 1993 |
No. 1 Florida State |
No. 2 |
22.02 |
|
Nov. 7, 2020 |
No. 1 Clemson |
No. 4 |
10.17 |
|
Sept. 10, 1994 |
No. 6 Michigan |
No. 3 |
10.10 |
|
Oct 15, 2005 |
No. 1 USC |
No. 9 |
10.07 |
|
Nov. 20, 1993 |
No. 17 Boston College |
No. 1 |
9.93 |
Of the top-five Notre Dame broadcasts on NBC, only the 1993 matchup against Boston College wasn't between two teams ranked in the top 10. The Eagles were instead ranked No. 17, while the Fighting Irish, having defeated the Florida State Seminoles the weekend before, were ranked No. 1.
Of course, Notre Dame famously lost to Boston College 41-39 and missed out on a National Championship that season—an ominous memory considering who Notre Dame plays this weekend after just taking down No. 1 Clemson.
It's worth noting that NBC's viewership numbers run counter to the ratings most other major sports are getting.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the ratings of almost every sports league have been down, with the exception of certain PGA events and the WNBA Finals.
Earlier in the season, even the numbers for the college football regular season were lower compared to previous seasons.
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