The Colorado Buffaloes have become a big deal in college football for viewers this season in 2023. They recently had an exciting double-overtime win against their rival, Colorado State, with a final score of 43-35. What’s impressive is that this game averaged a massive 9.3 million viewers on ESPN, setting a new record for late-night games on the network. It also became the fourth most-watched regular season game on ESPN or ABC in the last six years and the fifth most-watched ESPN regular season game ever. To put it in perspective, the most-watched regular season ESPN college football game ever was the 2014 Iron Bowl, which had an average of 13.53 million viewers.
🔥 @CUBuffsFootball's comeback thriller registers 𝟗.𝟑 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒
🏈ESPN’s 5th most-watched CFB game on record
🏈Shatters previous ESPN late prime window viewership high
🏈@ESPNCFB's most-streamed regular season game of all time pic.twitter.com/his917lb0F— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 19, 2023
This incredible viewership trend for Colorado didn’t happen overnight. In the first week, their surprising victory over TCU attracted an average of 7.262 million viewers on Fox. Then, in the second week, their win against Nebraska had an average of 8.725 million viewers. Both of these games were played in the Big Noon window.
Now, Colorado is gearing up to face Oregon, and this game will be broadcast on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET. However, they have some tough competition with other exciting matchups like UCLA vs. Utah on Fox and Ole Miss vs. Alabama on CBS. But given Colorado’s track record of drawing in viewers this season, it wouldn’t be a shock if they once again dominate their time slot.
However, it’s worth noting that there’s a highly anticipated Ohio State vs. Notre Dame game airing in primetime on NBC, so this might be the first time this season that Colorado doesn’t have the most-watched game of the weekend. That’s especially true since this week’s game faces tough competition from other exciting matchups across the college football landscape.
