The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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DECEMBER 2019 THE WOLVERINE 9 BY AUSTIN FOX A ccording to weekly TV ratings released by SportsMe- diaWatch.com, the Michigan Wolverines' program has once again been one of the most-watched clubs in college football during the 2019 campaign. The website revealed that six of the Maize and Blue's nine games this year (as of Nov. 9) have been among the three highest-viewed tilts in the country on each respective weekends (the Middle Tennessee State, Rutgers and Illinois victories being the exceptions), which is more than any other program in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). U-M has placed in the top two viewership-wise on three separate occasions, with the 28-21 loss at Penn State Oct. 19 checking in as the most-watched college football game of its weekend (6.66 million viewers), drawing 2.41 million more people than the second-place contest (Alabama versus Ten- nessee, which attracted 4.25 million eyes). When U-M annihilated Notre Dame by a score of 45-14 Oct. 26 in Ann Arbor, it reeled in the most viewers — 6.75 million — of any Michigan tilt this season. It should be noted that it wasn't the highest-viewed game of the weekend, how- ever, with LSU's 23-20 triumph over Auburn in Baton Rouge drawing 7.18 million. U-M's 10-3 win over Iowa Oct. 5 collected the third-most watchers of any Wolverine affair in 2019 (5.02 million), while the Sept. 21 blowout loss at Wisconsin hauled in the fourth most (4.73 million). Though the Maize and Blue's 38-7 blowout of Maryland in Col- lege Park Nov. 2 drew significantly less people (3.10 million) than the aforementioned games, it still stood as the third-most watched contest of its weekend, only be- hind Georgia's 24-17 victory over Florida in Jacksonville (6.98 mil- lion) and Oregon's 56-24 prime- time destruction of USC in the Los Angeles Coliseum (3.43). The FOX television network has taken an interesting approach to airing its showdowns, publicly stating before the season began that it would carry its biggest contests at noon (as opposed to primetime, like most other networks do). Michigan has benefitted greatly from this approach, play- ing in the FOX noon slot three times this year (the Sept. 7 double-overtime triumph over Army, the Sept. 21 setback at Wisconsin and the Oct. 5 victory over Iowa) and subse- quently seeing all three of those clashes draw at least 4.72 million watchers, while also making up three of U-M's five highest-viewed games (Notre Dame and Penn State being the other two). The Maize and Blue will play in the FOX noon slot two more times this season, first Nov. 16 against Michigan State and then Nov. 30 versus Ohio State. The TV network for the Nov. 23 clash at Indiana, set for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff, is still undetermined — but it will air on ESPN or ABC. Heading into the 11th weekend of the season (Nov. 9), Michigan's victory over Notre Dame drew the seventh-most viewers of any game during the 2019 campaign, while Michigan versus Penn State ranked ninth. U-M's most-watched affair of the 2018 campaign was its 62-39 loss at Ohio State in the regu- lar-season finale, which drew a whopping 13.20 million viewers. It was also the highest-viewed game throughout the entirety of the 2018 college football regular season. ❏ Inside Michigan ATHLETICS Michigan Football Once Again Among The Nation's Biggest TV Attractions Michigan's 45-14 win over Notre Dame drew the most viewers of any game the Wolverines have participated in this season (6.75 million). PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN Michigan Football's TV Viewers By Week Viewers National Rank Game (In Millions) That Weekend Middle Tennessee State 1.10 17th Army 4.72 3rd At Wisconsin 4.73 2nd Rutgers N/A N/A Iowa 5.02 3rd At Illinois 2.13 8th At Penn State 6.66 1st Notre Dame 6.75 2nd At Maryland 3.10 3rd