If I was a betting man and someone offered me a bet of what game would be higher rated the OSU vs. Texas semi-final or the ND vs PSU semi, I would’ve picked Former and won.  Yet if I was offered the former again vs. the Rose Bowl quarter final pitting a rematch of OSU vs. Oregon, I would’ve bet the Cotton Bowl match up would have posted a larger number.  This one I’d have lost.  

Why wouldn’t  two mega college programs that are traditional brands rock a huge number on a Friday night.  The number over shone the Orange Bowl Thursday semi by 3 million and 5 million at its peak, yet this semi was well down the list of highest rated semi final match ups.  The 20.6 million viewers was well below the record match up of the 2014/15 Sugar Bowl semi vs Alabama by 7 million viewers.  Did Deep South viewers snub TX because it alone represented the SEC and isn’t yet cozied up to?  If that is true, did the viewers of this year’s Rose Bowl not suffer the same snub by B1G viewers?

I was hoping the new CFP format would yield astronomical numbers in the semi final round but it relatively was a thud.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2025/01/more-than-20-million-tune-in-fo...