College football TV ratings: Most watched teams in 2024, ranked

These college football teams had the most viewers when they played during the 2024 season.

Not surprisingly, the SEC and Big Ten led the way with the most viewers during the 2024 college football season. / John David Mercer-Imagn Images

Coming out of a 2024 regular season filled with history and major upsets, it’s not surprising that a huge number of fans turned out to watch college football’s biggest games this fall.

Now, as we move into Bowl Season and the College Football Playoff, we have more information on who the 10 most-watched teams were in 2024, according to new TV ratings numbers.

And as expected, it was a lot of the SEC and Big Ten — college football’s big winners from conference realignment — that got most of the attention.

This year was the first for the SEC’s big media rights package with Disney, which made ABC and ESPN the go-to network for that conference’s football games, with eight of the 10 most watched games coming from college football’s best league.

Georgia and Texas played the most-watched game of the season, while Ohio State’s surprising loss against arch-rival Michigan was the second-most popular matchup this fall.

10. Florida: 4.3 million

Much of the drama around the Gators came from what seemed to be the imminent firing of head coach Billy Napier, which became more likely after his team’s 4-5 start.

But Florida won its final three games, including two against ranked SEC opponents, and nearly 4 million fans watched as the Gators knocked Ole Miss out of the playoff in a massive upset.

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9. Kentucky: 4.5 million

Despite the Wildcats’ struggles all season, fans made the team one of TV’s biggest winners during football season, averaging 4.5 million viewers this year.

A big part of that number was Kentucky’s game against Texas, which saw 4.47 million people tune in.

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8. LSU: 4.8 million

LSU’s biggest game in terms of viewership was also its first, when USC downed the Tigers by a 27-20 in the neutral site matchup in Las Vegas in primetime.

The other big game for LSU, as tends to be the case, was against Alabama, as almost 8 million people watched the Tide roll in Death Valley, thought to be a playoff elimination game at the time.

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7. Texas A&M: 4.9 million

The Mike Elko experience got off to a big start in 2024 as the Aggies played host to Notre Dame in a battle of ranked teams, even though that resulted in a loss for Elko’s team.

But it was the hugely-anticipated return of A&M’s rivalry game against Texas that caught the most attention, as 9.5 million fans tuned in, the most ever in the Lone Star Showdown.

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6. Michigan: 5.2 million

College football’s defending champs may have been a shell of their former selves, but fans eagerly awaited a matchup in the Big House against national title hopeful Texas.

That matchup saw 9.2 million people tune in on the main Fox network to watch the Longhorns win on the road in one of college football’s great venues.

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5. Tennessee: 5.4 million

Big Orange emerged as a College Football Playoff contender early in the year behind one of the nation’s best defenses, and a signature victory at home against Alabama.

That game, plus the Vols’ losing effort at Georgia, saw the program bring in more than 10 million viewers each time.

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4. Texas: 6.4 million

It’s no surprise that the Longhorns are a ratings bonanza with one of the nation’s most passionate fan bases, and that interest only increased as the program entered the SEC in 2024.

Those losses to Georgia aroused the most interest, as did the Longhorns’ big game against the Aggies, the latter clinching a place in the SEC Championship Game.

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3. Alabama: 6.6 million

There’s always interest in Alabama, but even more so in 2024 as Kalen DeBoer stepped in to replace Nick Saban, the greatest coach in college football history.

Alabama’s most-watched game was the loss at Tennessee, but the program’s dominant victory at LSU was another game that saw plenty of viewership.

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2. Ohio State: 6.8 million

Two of the Buckeyes’ most-watched games were also their season-defining losses, as Ryan Day’s team fell short in marquee matchups against Oregon and Michigan.

Around 9.6 million people watched Ohio State fall by a point on the road against the Ducks, while The Game against Michigan saw a number of about 12.3 million viewers.

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1. Georgia: 8.6 million

Some distance here between the Bulldogs and the competition when it comes to TV interest, as two of their most important games came against the same opponent: Texas.

Georgia’s 30-15 upset at the Longhorns drew 13.19 million viewers on the main ABC network, and the rematch for the SEC title brought in 16.6 million people on Championship Saturday.

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