The Ohio State Buckeyes and TTUN delivered 18.4 million viewers for The Game this past weekend, despite being a one-sided 27-9 victory at the "Big House" that felt out of reach for the Wolverines by the third quarter.
Per FOX Sports, the 2025 edition of "The Game" was the second-most-watched college football game ever on FOX. Two years ago was the highest-rated, when both the Buckeyes and Wolverines entered the game undefeated.
This year's game was a win-and-get-in for TTUN in the College Football Playoff. The Wolverines had two losses coming in, to the likely CFP-bound Oklahoma Sooners and the USC Trojans, which, like TTUN, fell just outside of contention for the 12-team field. Both losses were by double digits.
Meanwhile, OSU entered Week 14 with the chance of extending the 2,191-day draught into the 2026 season and having the chance for a second consecutive title to have a black cloud hanging over it from not beating their top rival.
The narrative was juicy, resulting in a massive audience.
'The Game' was one of the only rivalry games with any juice
"The Game" had extra juice in 2025 because many of the other rivalry games were lopsided.
The Iron Bowl was a highly entertaining game, but the Auburn Tigers only had bowl eligibility and playing spoiler on the line against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Los Angeles' USC Trojans-UCLA Bruins rivalry featured a listless UCLA squad with an interim head coach.
The Oregon Ducks-Washington Huskies matchup featured only one nationally relevant program. In truth, the Texas Longhorns-TAMU Aggies matchup was the only game that came close, but that rivalry lost luster when it was taken off the calendar for 13 years between 2011 and 2024.
College Football is quickly losing its identity, with rivalries being lost to conference realignment in the last few years.
"The Game" did the sport a massive favor this year in delivering an important matchup and some early-game drama before inevitability set in.