Which college football programs were the most-watched in 2022?
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.
- Ohio State — 5.80M
- Alabama — 5.11M
- Michigan — 4.37M
- Tennessee — 4.13M
- Georgia — 3.50M
- Notre Dame — 3.30M
- LSU — 3.22M
- Texas — 3.06M
- Penn State — 3.05M
- Clemson — 2.59M
- Florida — 2.57M
- Oregon — 2.21M
- TCU — 2.20M
- Southern Cal — 2.07M
- Florida State — 2.03M
- Nebraska — 1.98M
- Michigan State — 1.91M
- Texas A&M — 1.87M
- Maryland — 1.864M
- Auburn — 1.863M
- Arkansas — 1.80M
- Mississippi — 1.753M
- Oklahoma — 1.748M
- Oklahoma State — 1.68M
- UCLA — 1.591M
- Wisconsin — 1.587M
- Iowa — 1.50M
- Kentucky — 1.35M
- Baylor — 1.32M
- Kansas State — 1.23M
- Indiana — 1.19M
- Illinois — 1.17M
- Utah — 1.16M
- Washington — 1.15M
- Northwestern — 1.13M
- Mississippi State — 1.10M
- Minnesota — 1.05M
- BYU — 997K
- South Carolina — 990K
- Navy — 976K
- Washington State — 907K
- Iowa State — 882K
- NC State — 881K
- Purdue -870K
- California — 857K
- North Carolina — 849K
- Stanford — 846K
- Syracuse — 841K
- Georgia Tech — 837K
- Missouri — 793K
- West Virginia — 774K
- Kansas — 732K
- Army — 681K
- Texas Tech — 680K
- Cincinnati — 653K
- Pittsburgh — 650K
- Oregon State — 625K
- Rutgers — 618K
- Miami FL— 608K
- Wake Forest — 523K
- UCF — 510K
- Arizona — 506K
- Louisville — 496K
- Colorado State — 386K
- Tulane — 354K
- Boise State — 353K
- Colorado — 352.9K
- Air Force — 326K
- Utah State — 324K
- Boston College — 322K
- Arizona State — 314K
- SMU — 312K
- Toledo — 306K
- East Carolina — 305K
- Appalachian State — 298K
- Virginia Tech — 264K
- Marshall — 262K
- Houston — 242K
- Virginia — 237K
- Fresno State — 220K
- Ohio — 214K
- Connecticut — 212K
- San Diego State — 198K
- Western Michigan — 174K
- Memphis — 165K
- Tulsa — 162K
- Wyoming — 154K
- Central Michigan — 130K
- Georgia Southern — 125K
- Nevada — 116.4K
- Duke — 115.7K
- UTEP — 102K
- Temple — 92K
- New Mexico State — 86K
- South Florida — 80.8K
- Coastal Carolina — 80.6K
- Louisiana — 78K
- UAB — 71K
- Arkansas State — 69K
- Buffalo — 67K
- Bowling Green — 63K
- Ball State — 61K
- Kent State — 60K
- Georgia State — 55K
- San Jose State — 53K
- Miami OH — 49K
- Northern Illinois — 46K
- Hawaii — 43K
- Eastern Michigan — 33K
- Akron — 31K
- Old Dominion — 28K
- Texas State — 18.4K
- New Mexico — 17.5K
- Southern Miss — 16K
- Charlotte 14.8K
- Western Kentucky — 13.8K
- Florida Atlantic — 12K
- Louisiana Tech — 10K
- James Madison — 9K
The 2022 “4 million club”
Here are all of the games that broke 4 million viewers this season:
- Michigan at Ohio State — 17.14M
- Tennessee at Georgia — 13.06M
- Alabama at Tennessee — 11.56M
- Alabama at Texas — 10.60M
- Notre Dame vs. Ohio State — 10.53M
- Alabama at Mississippi — 8.71M
- Ohio State at Penn State — 8.27M
- Alabama at LSU — 7.58M
- Florida State vs. LSU — 7.55M
- Texas A&M at Alabama — 7.15M
- Army vs. Navy — 6.94M
- Florida at Florida State — 6.71M
- Notre Dame at Southern Cal, 6.68M
- Ohio State at Maryland — 6.60M
- Penn State at Michigan — 6.45M
- Auburn at Alabama — 6.27M
- Oregon vs. Georgia — 6.20M
- Alabama at Arkansas — 5.83M
- Florida at Georgia — 5.62M
- Michigan State at Michigan — 5.58M
- Florida at Tennessee — 5.57M
- Illinois at Michigan — 5.47M
- TCU at Texas — 5.03M
- NC State at Clemson — 4.98M
- Tennessee at South Carolina — 4.87M
- Clemson at Georgia Tech — 4.86M
- Ohio State at Northwestern — 4.76M
- Syracuse at Clemson — 4.75M
- Wisconsin at Ohio State — 4.59M
- Southern Cal at UCLA — 4.53M
- Georgia at Kentucky — 4.48M
- Tennessee at Pittsburgh — 4.46M
- Texas at Oklahoma State — 4.46M
- Ohio State at Michigan State — 4.44M
- Nebraska vs. Northwestern — 4.42M
- Maryland at Michigan — 4.38M
- Iowa at Ohio State — 4.38M
- TCU at Baylor — 4.35M
- Iowa State at TCU — 4.34M
- Kentucky at Florida — 4.33M
- Auburn at Georgia — 4.24M
- Michigan at Iowa — 4.20M
- Penn State at Auburn — 4.05M
- Kentucky at Tennessee — 4.04M
- 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.
