Florida State's Loss To Georgia Tech Brings In Massive National Audience

The Seminoles brought in a ton of eyes during their first game of the season.

Aug 24, 2024; Dublin, IRL; Florida State University celebrate after a play against Georgia Tech at Aviva Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tom Maher/INPHO via USA TODAY Sports / Tom Maher/INPHO via USA TODAY Sports

Florida State was outcoached and outplayed in a season-opening loss to Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland. The Seminoles quickly got out to an 8-0 lead but didn't find the end zone again until their final possession. By that point, too much time had trickled off the clock and the Yellow Jackets ultimately ended up hitting a field goal as time expired.

Being one of just four games involving FBS programs in what was by far the marquee showing on the slate, the defeat ended up drawing in a national audience. The contest easily took the top spot of the weekend with a whopping 4.987 million viewers watching the game on ESPN. That's an increase of over 1 million viewers compared to the 3.56 million people that watched Notre Dame take down Navy in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic last season. It was the most-watched week 0 game in five years.

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙍𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙎 𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙄𝙉 … 📺

Last Saturday’s @cfbireland game drew 4.987 million viewers on @espn.

⭐️ Up 40% over 3.56M that watched last year’s ND-Navy game on NBC

⭐️ More viewers than all but 4 games that aired on ESPN during the 2023 regular season#StingEm 🐝 pic.twitter.com/FTOvmmY2l7

— Georgia Tech Football (@GeorgiaTechFB) August 27, 2024

📢 @ESPNCFB viewership is off to a 🔥 start in Week 0

🏈 @cfbireland between @GeorgiaTechFB & @FSUFootball delivered 5.0M viewers, up 40% over 2023 & the most-watched Week 0 game in 5 years
🏈 @MEAC_SWAC scored 1.3M viewers, the most-watched edition on record pic.twitter.com/WBQgzy4UUb

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) August 27, 2024

Looking back to last year, that would've been Florida State's fifth-biggest crowd of the season, ranking behind the Orange Bowl defeat against Georgia (10.39M), neutral-site win over LSU (9.1) road win at Clemson (6.71M), and comeback rivalry win against Florida (5.07M).

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The Seminoles will have a chance to rack up the views once again in Week 1 with the program scheduled to face Boston College on Labor Day. Florida State and the Eagles are the only two teams who will be playing that night after what should be an exciting first week of the season.

FSU and Boston College will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, September 2. The game will be televised on ESPN.

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