The brand of Ohio State football remains undefeated.
On Tuesday, the Big Ten announced Ohio State's 37-3 win over Minnesota attracted an audience of 2.015 million on Saturday, according to Nielsen Media Research. That number made the battle between the Buckeyes and Golden Gophers the most-watched broadcast in Big Ten Network history and the first event in network history to surpass 2 million viewers.
Before Saturday, the 2021 Black Friday matchup between Iowa and Nebraska was the Big Ten Network's most-watched broadcast with 1.99 million viewers. The Sept. 23 matchup between Michigan and Rutgers was previously ranked second at 1.93 million.
According to Sports Media Watch, Ohio State-Minnesota attracted the 10th-largest audience in college football for Week 12. Georgia-Tennessee led the way with 5.73 million viewers, followed by Michigan-Maryland (5.43 million), Washington-Oregon State (4.73 million), Louisville-Miami (2.89 million) and USC-UCLA (2.65 million), who rounded out the top five.
This season, Ohio State has attracted audiences of 4.65 million vs. Indiana, 1.22 million vs. Youngstown State, 2.82 million vs. Western Kentucky, 9.98 million vs. Notre Dame, 4.51 million vs. Maryland, 9.96 million vs. Penn State, 4.87 million vs. Wisconsin, 3.96 million vs. Rutgers and 3.57 million vs. Michigan State, according to SMW.
The Buckeyes' Week 7 matchup with Purdue does not appear on the SMW weekly rankings because it was streamed exclusively on Peacock, preventing Nielsen from charting and tracking its viewership numbers.
