The Michigan Wolverines’ 41-7 win over the Florida Gators at the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl was Orlando’s most watched game on New Year’s Day.
The Michigan Wolverines’ 41-7 win against the Florida Gators at the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day was the most watched college football bowl game of the Bowl season in Orlando.
Despite the blowout, the Citrus Bowl was also the most watched television program last week with 271,585 viewers according to Nielsen.
The Citrus Bowl also is the second most watched college football game of the season behind only the the Sunshine State Showdown of Florida State and Florida back on Nov. 28 which garnered 350,068 viewers in Orlando.
The Citrus Bowl was also a success nationally as according to SportsMediaWatch.com.
The Michigan/Florida Citrus Bowl drew a 5.4 overnight rating on ABC on New Year’s Day, ranking third for the day among college football games (five telecasts). It only trailed the Stanford/Iowa in the Rose Bowl (7.9) and Ohio State/Notre Dame in the Fiesta (6.2) which the Citrus Bowl went head to head in the 1pm time slot.
The Citrus Bowl did top the Mississippi/Oklahoma State Sugar Bowl, which aired in primetime unopposed by any other bowl game (5.3).
The Michigan-Florida Citrus Bowl easily did better then last year’s Citrus Bowl game of Missouri and Minnesota game which had a 3.7 final rating.
The last time Michigan and Florida played in the Citrus Bowl was in 2008. The game, which featured Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and Lloyd Carr’s last game as Wolverines head coach, did a a whopping 9.13 TV rating which was highest rated Citrus Bowl nationally since 1998 when Florida beat Penn State.
In Orlando, The Citrus Bowl had more viewers than both College Football Semifinals games. The Orange Bowl between Clemson and Oklahoma had 235,849 viewers on New Year’s Eve edging out the Cotton Bowl semifinal between Alabama and Michigan State which garnered 207,454 viewers.
Florida State’s loss to Houston in the Peach Bowl garnered 170,019 viewers in Orlando. Strong number when you keep in mind the game’s kickoff was at noon on New Year’s Eve. Nationally the game did a 4.0, which was up 21 percent from last year’s Peach Bowl between TCU and Ole Miss in the same day and time slot.
The Rose Bowl rounded out the top five most watched Bowl games in Orlando with Stanford’s win over Iowa garnering 147,559 viewers.
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