Ohio State's 30-27, double-OT win over Michigan on Saturday afternoon drew 16.65 million viewers on ABC, marking the most-watched college football game of the season across all networks to date. The game, pitting No. 2 against No. 3 in the CFP rankings, is the most-watched noon ET kickoff on record and ABC's second most-viewed game out of 791 game windows, dating back to '91. Michigan-OSU is ABC's most-watched college football game in 10 years, since the '06 Michigan-OSU matchup drew 21.04 million viewers. That game saw the teams ranked No. 1 and 2 in the country with a 3:30pm kickoff. Last year's OSU-Michigan game drew 10.95 million viewers on ABC. Meanwhile, ESPN's stream of Saturday's game drew 279,000 average minute viewers with a total of 1.27 million unique viewers (THE DAILY).
ASSERTIVE IN THE BOOTH: SI.com's Richard Deitsch noted after a replay of OSU QB J.T. Barrett’s first-down run on fourth-and-1 from the Michigan 16 in double OT, ABC's Chris Fowler "did not hesitate and said Barrett had crossed the first down line." After rules analyst Dave Cutaia "explained why the call would not be overturned ... Fowler again was definitive." Fowler "gets criticized by some college football fans for not having the big-game voice," but this sequence was an example of a "sharp announcer unafraid to veer into opinion during a controversial moment" (SI.com, 11/27). In Detroit, Mark Snyder noted Michigan-OSU "set regular season streaming records as the first to surpass one million unique users and 60 million minutes watched online," with 279,000 viewers in the average minute with the 1.27 million unique viewers watching 69,661,000 minutes (FREEP.com, 11/27).
HUGS & KISSES: In Birmingham, Creg Stephenson noted Pro Football HOFer Joe Namath on Saturday stopped by the CBS booth for Auburn-Alabama in honor of Verne Lundquist's final Iron Bowl. As Namath "prepared to leave the booth, he planted a kiss on a stunned Lundquist's cheek." Lundquist then proclaimed, "My career is complete!" (AL.com, 11/26).
CALL IT LIKE YOU SEE IT: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes ESPN's Brock Huard made a "nice call" during Michigan State-Penn State on Saturday. One play after Huard stated PSU RB Saquon Barkley “can accelerate and elevate," Barkley leaped into the end zone from 3 yards out. Meanwhile, ESPN NASCAR analyst Allen Bestwick called Nebraska-Iowa "as if he were speaking to intelligent life forms, those who could see what he saw in a casual but alert mode." Mushnick: "More Bestwick, please" (N.Y. POST, 11/28).
