Ohio State vs. Notre Dame 2025 CFP Championship Game Averages 22.1M Viewers

ESPN announced an average of 22.1 million viewers tuned in to watch Ohio State beat Notre Dame 34-23 in championship game for the College Football Playoff.

The number peaked at 26.1 million roughly an hour into the contest. The CFP title tilt drew the highest ratings of any non-NFL sporting event from the last year.

Ohio State was a fitting representative to come out on top in the expanded 12-team playoff.

Under the old format, the Buckeyes would've been frozen out in the postseason championship race following their 13-10 upset to Michigan. Instead, OSU was offered a lifeline and made the most of it.

Ryan Day's squad rolled past Tennessee and No. 1 Oregon in its first two games before pulling away from Texas in the semifinals. Even the final score of the national championship is a little deceiving since Ohio State reeled off 31 unanswered points and led by three scores midway through the third quarter.

In any other year of college football, the Buckeyes would've competed in a postseason bowl game, an unsatisfying outcome for a team with such high expectations. Day might've found himself out of a job, too, given the vitriol he faced in the wake of the Michigan loss.

Instead, the program is basking in its ninth title, and Day's popularity in Columbus is probably higher than it has ever been.

In one respect, the expanded playoff is already working as intended because nobody was left questioning Ohio State's status as the best team in college football despite its 14-2 record.