Tuesday, September 14, 2010

NBC was the WINNER Saturday!

NBC Sports is experiencing the excitement that Brian Kelly has brought to the Fighting Irish football program -- first hand. For the second week in a row -- TV ratings are up big time. The Michigan vs. Notre Dame game was the most watched Notre Dame football game in the past five-years and the most watched featuring these two teams in sixteen-years. It was the twelfth largest audience ever for a NBC telecast of a Notre Dame football game in their twenty-year history with the Irish -- and largest audience ever for two un-ranked opponents. 7 million viewers tuned in to the game -- and the two-game viewership average is the best in four years for Notre Dame football. Here are the five largest TV audiences ever for a NBC broadcast of Notre Dame vs. Michigan football game:

1: #6 Michigan 26, #3 Notre Dame 24 September 10, 1994 10.1 million
2: #3 Notre Dame 17, #6 Michigan 17 September 12, 1992 7.3 million
3: Michigan 28, Notre Dame 24 September 11, 2010 7.0 million
4: #22 Notre Dame 36, #5 Michigan 20 September 5, 1998 6.6 million
5: #20 Notre Dame 25, #7 Michigan 23 September 14, 2002 6.5 million