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College GameDay delivered prime numbers for the Week 3 show, which featured Colorado and Colorado State in Boulder, Colorado on Saturday.
The popular ESPN program drew 2.3 million viewers, which increased to 3 million viewers in the final hour according to ESPN public relations. It marked the highest viewership for a September episode in 13 years, and the third-highest for any September episode in program history.
All eyes were on @CollegeGameDay in Boulder, Colo. for Week 3
? 2.3M viewers
? Final hour: 3M viewers
? Best Sept. episode since ‘10
? Third-best Sept. episode EVER pic.twitter.com/UMOHiNsG2A— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 19, 2023
New Colorado head coach and former NFL legend Deion Sanders played a major role in that spike. Sanders took over the Buffaloes and led them to a 2-0 start with wins over TCU and Nebraska.
Added to that, in-state rival Colorado State came in hungry for an upset. The rivals hadn’t met since 2019 when the Buffaloes beat the Rams 52-31 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.
While this year’s game didn’t occur until nearly 10 hours after College GameDay, a similarly high-charged crew of fans from the morning showed up big at Folsom Field. The rivalry game didn’t disappoint as the Buffaloes overcame a 28-17 fourth quarter deficit to win in overtime, 43-35.
ESPN, which broadcast the game, drew quite the viewership with 9.3 million for the late-night showdown. That made it the “fifth-most watched regular season game ever on the network for any time slot.”
