Objectively, we may be less of a TV draw than in the past

by Aaron (Shakespeare), Thursday, May 21, 2026, 11:43 (3 days ago) @ Dallasdomer

Top TV Games of 2025

The linked listing of the top 100 most-viewed games of 2025, only 4 ND games made the list, behind several lesser programs:

Appearances by program:
13: Alabama
10: Georgia, Ohio State
9: Oklahoma, Texas
8: Ole Miss, Oregon
7: LSU, Miami, Michigan
6: Indiana, Tennessee, Texas A&M
5: Florida, Vanderbilt
4: Georgia Tech, Iowa, Missouri, Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas Tech, USC, Washington
3: Auburn, BYU, Clemson, Florida State, Illinois, South Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin

Our games that made the list were vs Miami (17th most watched), vs Texas A&M (48th), vs USC (72nd), and vs Arkansas (85th).

I do think in some ways the ESPN machine is a self-feeding beast - games all day across multiple networks can cross-promote one another. But even accepting network inertia is part of the story, I still think we would have had more games closer to the top of the list if you look back 10, 20, 30 years ago. Opponent quality is a piece of that.