Deion Sanders’ first season was a hit on television and ESPN was able to capitalize on it. After Fox had the rights to the first two games in Colorado’s “Big Noon” window, ESPN had the first opportunity to capitalize on Coach Prime mania.
According to data released by ESPN, Saturday’s game between Colorado and Colorado State was the fifth-most watched college football game in ESPN history. It was also the most-watched late-night college football game ever broadcast on the network.
ESPN said the game was the network’s most streamed regular season college football game ever.
The game, which began after 10 pm ET on Saturday night, averaged 9.3 million viewers. The game peaked with 11.1 million viewers at 11 p.m. ET.
The match came after several days of buildup by ESPN. College GameDay visited Boulder this past Saturday with some major college football matchups.
The game became a thriller when Colorado rallied late to win 43–35 in overtime.
Colorado’s first two contests delivered huge ratings for Fox. Buffalo’s regular season opener against TCU received over 7.2 million viewers, making it the most watched telecast of the day.
Colorado’s Week 2 matchup against Nebraska drew 8.73 million viewers and became Fox’s most-watched telecast ever involving a Pac-12 team. It was also the 10th most-watched college football game broadcast by Fox.
ABC Sports, whose broadcasts are produced by ESPN, will next telecast Colorado, Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff at No. 10-ranked Oregon.
While Colorado is off to a surprising 3-0 start after winning just one game a year ago, the odds are stacked against Sanders’ team this week. Colorado enters its game at Oregon as a 21-point underdog, According to DraftKings.