Notre Dame vs Northern Illinois Draws Huge NBC TV Rating
Notre Dame's TV numbers were massive, but the play was suspect
After Notre Dame's massive Week 1 SEC win over Texas A&M which raised the Irish's AP poll ranking up to number 5, the Irish logged mega NBC TV numbers for the first home telecast of the season for the matchup with the Huskies.
Unfortunately for the Irish faithful, Notre Dame suffered a sloppy loss at the hands of Northern Illinois, who played better than the Irish and earned the win.
Notre Dame's game against the non "brand-name" opponent Northern Illinois had the 3rd most viewers of any game in the country with over 3.9 million views. The only games that had larger audiences were Colorado vs Nebraska and Texas vs Michigan.
Why were the numbers so high for a game against a Mac team?
Even though this game did not feature a traditional brand name opponent, this was the fans' first opportunity to see Notre Dame play on their home field for 2024. This alone certainly drew in some viewers eager for the sights and sounds of Notre Dame's campus and stadium after a 10-month layoff.
But most obviously though, Notre Dame entered this game as a top 5 team coming off a hugely important and dramatic win the week before. Irish fans were excited for this moment.
They had the feeling this year was going to be different. And then the game happened. There's never a dull moment in Notre Dame land folks.
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