Ohio State and Minnesota treated college football fans to a great game last night as they kicked off their respective seasons on Thursday night. And judging by the ratings, they loved every minute of it.
According to John Ourand of Sports Business Journal, the Ohio State-Minnesota game drew 6.295 million viewers last night. The ratings were nearly eight times better than UCF-Boise State on ESPN, and nearly 10 times stronger than the PGA Tour Championship on the Golf Network.
Better yet, the game had the 10th-biggest audience for a regular season college football game on FOX. That’s pretty incredible for a Thursday night.
It’s not hard to see why fans were so glued though. In the first half, the Golden Gophers gave the Buckeyes everything they could handle and more.
Of note: the Ohio State-Minnesota viewership ranks as the 10th biggest audience for a regular season college football game on Fox.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) September 3, 2021
Despite falling behind 10-0 to start the game, Minnesota recorded back-to-back touchdowns to close out the first half, taking a 14-10 lead to the locker room.
Ohio State fans were on the edge of their seats as the Buckeyes had a rare halftime deficit. But quarterback CJ Stroud put on a superb second half to immediately get them back into the game.
After exchanging touchdowns, Ohio State took the lead for good thanks to a fumble recovered for a touchdown late in the third quarter. The two teams exchanged scores all the way to the end of the game.
It may not have been as tight as some of the instant classic, but it was a great one. And the fans agreed.