Which college football programs were the most-watched in 2022?

Michigan’s win over Ohio State was the most-watched regular-season college football game since 2011.

Another college football regular season is in the books, so we have another year’s worth of TV viewership data to dig into.

Below, I’ve listed each school’s average game viewership for the regular season. And below that, I’ve listed every game that garnered at least 4 million viewers — a benchmark number in the eyes of TV networks.

As you peruse these lists, remember that TV viewership can be influenced by a whole bunch of factors, including game time, channel, competitiveness, and what other games are going on at the same time. Outliers can also sway averages, especially in a small sample size like this one.

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Ranking the most-watched college football programs in 2022

The numbers next to each school indicate the average number of viewers per week for a 12-week season.

Streaming numbers are included when available. Games that do not have available data are counted as zero.

1. Ohio State — 5.80M
2. Alabama — 5.11M
3. Michigan — 4.37M
4. Tennessee — 4.13M
5. Georgia — 3.50M
6. Notre Dame — 3.30M
7. LSU — 3.22M
8. Texas — 3.06M
9. Penn State — 3.05M
10. Clemson — 2.59M
11. Florida — 2.57M
12. Oregon — 2.21M
13. TCU — 2.20M
14. Southern Cal — 2.07M
15. Florida State — 2.03M
16. Nebraska — 1.98M
17. Michigan State — 1.91M
18. Texas A&M — 1.87M
19. Maryland — 1.864M
20. Auburn — 1.863M
21. Arkansas — 1.80M
22. Mississippi — 1.753M
23. Oklahoma — 1.748M
24. Oklahoma State — 1.68M
25. UCLA — 1.591M
26. Wisconsin — 1.587M
27. Iowa — 1.50M
28. Kentucky — 1.35M
29. Baylor — 1.32M
30. Kansas State — 1.23M
31. Indiana — 1.19M
32. Illinois — 1.17M
33. Utah — 1.16M
34. Washington — 1.15M
35. Northwestern — 1.13M
36. Mississippi State — 1.10M
37. Minnesota — 1.05M
38. BYU — 997K
39. South Carolina — 990K
40. Navy — 976K
41. Washington State — 907K
42. Iowa State — 882K
43. NC State — 881K
44. Purdue -870K
45. California — 857K
46. North Carolina — 849K
47. Stanford — 846K
48. Syracuse — 841K
49. Georgia Tech — 837K
50. Missouri — 793K
51. West Virginia — 774K
52. Kansas — 732K
53. Army — 681K
54. Texas Tech — 680K
55. Cincinnati — 653K
56. Pittsburgh — 650K
57. Oregon State — 625K
58. Rutgers — 618K
59. Miami FL— 608K
60. Wake Forest — 523K
61. UCF — 510K
62. Arizona — 506K
63. Louisville — 496K
64. Colorado State — 386K
65. Tulane — 354K
66. Boise State — 353K
67. Colorado — 352.9K
68. Air Force — 326K
69. Utah State — 324K
70. Boston College — 322K
71. Arizona State — 314K
72. SMU — 312K
73. Toledo — 306K
74. East Carolina — 305K
75. Appalachian State — 298K
76. Virginia Tech — 264K
77. Marshall — 262K
78. Houston — 242K
79. Virginia — 237K
80. Fresno State — 220K
81. Ohio — 214K
82. Connecticut — 212K
83. San Diego State — 198K
84. Western Michigan — 174K
85. Memphis — 165K
86. Tulsa — 162K
87. Wyoming — 154K
88. Central Michigan — 130K
89. Georgia Southern — 125K
90. Nevada — 116.4K
91. Duke — 115.7K
92. UTEP — 102K
93. Temple — 92K
94. New Mexico State — 86K
95. South Florida — 80.8K
96. Coastal Carolina — 80.6K
97. Louisiana — 78K
98. UAB — 71K
99. Arkansas State — 69K
100. Buffalo — 67K
101. Bowling Green — 63K
102. Ball State — 61K
103. Kent State — 60K
104. Georgia State — 55K
105. San Jose State — 53K
106. Miami OH — 49K
107. Northern Illinois — 46K
108. Hawaii — 43K
109. Eastern Michigan — 33K
110. Akron — 31K
111. Old Dominion — 28K
112. Texas State — 18.4K
113. New Mexico — 17.5K
114. Southern Miss — 16K
115. Charlotte 14.8K
116. Western Kentucky — 13.8K
117. Florida Atlantic — 12K
118. Louisiana Tech — 10K
119. James Madison — 9K

The 2022 “4 million club”

Here are all of the games that broke 4 million viewers this season:

1. Michigan at Ohio State — 17.14M
2. Tennessee at Georgia — 13.06M
3. Alabama at Tennessee — 11.56M
4. Alabama at Texas — 10.60M
5. Notre Dame vs. Ohio State — 10.53M
6. Alabama at Mississippi — 8.71M
7. Ohio State at Penn State — 8.27M
8. Alabama at LSU — 7.58M
9. Florida State vs. LSU — 7.55M
10. Texas A&M at Alabama — 7.15M
11. Army vs. Navy — 6.94M
12. Florida at Florida State — 6.71M
13. Notre Dame at Southern Cal, 6.68M
14. Ohio State at Maryland — 6.60M
15. Penn State at Michigan — 6.45M
16. Auburn at Alabama — 6.27M
17. Oregon vs. Georgia — 6.20M
18. Alabama at Arkansas — 5.83M
19. Florida at Georgia — 5.62M
20. Michigan State at Michigan — 5.58M
21. Florida at Tennessee — 5.57M
22. Illinois at Michigan — 5.47M
23. TCU at Texas — 5.03M
24. NC State at Clemson — 4.98M
25. Tennessee at South Carolina — 4.87M
26. Clemson at Georgia Tech — 4.86M
27. Ohio State at Northwestern — 4.76M
28. Syracuse at Clemson — 4.75M
29. Wisconsin at Ohio State — 4.59M
30. Southern Cal at UCLA — 4.53M
31. Georgia at Kentucky — 4.48M
32. Tennessee at Pittsburgh — 4.46M
33. Texas at Oklahoma State — 4.46M
34. Ohio State at Michigan State — 4.44M
35. Nebraska vs. Northwestern — 4.42M
36. Maryland at Michigan — 4.38M
37. Iowa at Ohio State — 4.38M
38. TCU at Baylor — 4.35M
39. Iowa State at TCU — 4.34M
40. Kentucky at Florida — 4.33M
41. Auburn at Georgia — 4.24M
42. Michigan at Iowa — 4.20M
43. Penn State at Auburn — 4.05M
44. Kentucky at Tennessee — 4.04M
45. Michigan at Indiana — 4.01M

There were 39 teams that played in at least one game that cracked 4 million viewers:

8 — Ohio State

7 — Alabama, Michigan

6 — Tennessee

5 — Georgia

4 — Florida

3 — Auburn, Clemson, Kentucky, Penn State, TCU, Texas

2 — Florida State, Iowa, LSU, Maryland, Michigan State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Southern Cal

1 — Arkansas, Army, Baylor, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa State, Mississippi, Navy, NC State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Syracuse, Texas A&M, UCLA, Wisconsin

Looking for data from other years? Click the links below.

2024
2023
2021
2015–19