Over 17 million watched Michigan's win over Ohio State in the most-watched game of 2022

A lot of people watched Michigan’s win over Ohio State on Saturday.

Fox Sports said Sunday afternoon that the 45-23 victory by the Wolverines averaged 17 million viewers and had nearly 20 million watching the game at one point. It’s the most-watched regular-season college football game since 2011 and the most-watched CFB game on Fox.

Michigan won its second consecutive game against the Buckeyes to play for the Big Ten title next weekend against Purdue. Michigan is in line to make the College Football Playoff for the second consecutive season, even if it loses to the Boilermakers in a massive upset.

The Game was the biggest game of the season as Michigan and Ohio State entered the regular-season finale undefeated. Ohio State fell from No. 2 to No. 5 in the AP Top 25 after the loss and will likely be outside the top four in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday.

The audience for the rivalry also shows why Fox and other networks are willing to pay so much money for Big Ten rights and further justifies the network’s decision to put its marquee game of the week at noon ET. The Big Ten will have TV contracts with Fox, CBS and NBC worth a combined $7 billion starting in July. The deals are a departure for the conference as it will end its longstanding relationship with ESPN.

Once USC and UCLA join the Big Ten in 2024, the conference will have TV slots on Fox at noon ET, CBS at 3:30 p.m. and on NBC in prime time.

Michigan’s win is also the fifth game to have more than 10 million viewers this season. Tennessee and Georgia averaged over 13 million viewers on CBS after Tennessee’s victory over Alabama averaged over 11.5 million viewers. Alabama’s win over Texas in Week 2 averaged over 10 million viewers on Fox and Ohio State’s win over Notre Dame in Week 1 also had over 10 million watching.