Monday night, Indiana completed a historic run to a national championship over Miami. The Hoosiers defeated the Hurricanes 27-21 in the College Football Playoff title game, which drew strong TV ratings. IU’s victory averaged 30.1 million viewers for ESPN and peaked at 33.2 million, the network announced Thursday. It became the second most-watched CFP national […]
Monday night, Indiana completed a historic run to a national championship over Miami. The Hoosiers defeated the Hurricanes 27-21 in the College Football Playoff title game, which drew strong TV ratings.
IU’s victory averaged 30.1 million viewers for ESPN and peaked at 33.2 million, the network announced Thursday. It became the second most-watched CFP national championship ever and the most-watched college football game since 2014-15, according to ESPN.
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For comparison, last year’s national championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame averaged 22.1 million viewers. Indiana’s win on Monday is now the most-watched non-NFL sports telecast since Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
Monday’s championship game capped a mixed TV ratings run for ESPN through the College Football Playoff. The quarterfinals performed well, led by 23.9 million viewers for the Rose Bowl between Indiana and Alabama, but the semifinals took a dip from 2024-25.
The Hoosiers were also the bigger draw of the two teams entering the title game. Indiana averaged 6.648 million viewers through the regular season and CFP semifinals, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel data, while Miami averaged 5.588 million. Of note: Miami’s regular-season games on ACC Network are not part of the data since network does not pay for Nielsen viewership.
All told, Indiana played in three of the four most-watched games of the College Football Playoff. The Rose Bowl led that charge as it became the most-watched CFP game of the 12-team era at the time, and also the fourth-most watched Rose Bowl on record.
Miami’s Cotton Bowl victory over Ohio State also drew strong viewership, averaging 19.0 million viewers on New Year’s Eve. It’s the third-most watched game of this year’s College Football Playoff, behind only the Rose Bowl and national championship.
Indiana completed a historic two-year turnaround under Curt Cignetti with Monday’s victory over Miami. Prior to Cignetti’s arrival in Bloomington, the Hoosiers won three games and were the losingest program in college football history. Since then, IU is 27-2 under his leadership – including the first 16-0 season since Yale in 1894 with this year’s championship team.
Fernando Mendoza made the ultimate game-winning play in the fourth quarter to propel Indiana to the mountaintop. On 4th and 5, he powered his way through the Miami defense and into the end zone to put Indiana ahead 24-21. A field goal made it 27-21, which held as the final after a Carson Beck interception.
Category: General Sports
