The biggest test for Oregon football is officially in the rearview mirror, but that hasn't stopped us from reliving all the excitement from that Ohio State game and looking at the numbers.
While everyone has looked at the stats and saw that Dillon Gabriel, Evan Stewart, and Jordan James all dominated, there were some even more impressive statistics that happened off the field.
According to multiple reports, Saturday's Oregon vs. Ohio State game was the most viewed of the week (about 3 million more viewers than the Red River Rivalry) and its 10.2 million viewers was the most-watched primetime Big Ten matchup since 2008, per Front Office Sports.
Ohio State-Oregon averaged 10.2 million viewers across NBC—the most-watched primetime Big Ten matchup since 2008. pic.twitter.com/orV3x4KjS6
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) October 14, 2024
Not only was this the most-watched game of the week and the most single-game viewers for a Big Ten primetime game since 2008, but it was also the most-watched regular-season game in Oregon football history and its appearance on College GameDay was one of the best October episodes in the show's history. Oh, and it was the largest Autzen Stadium crowd ever which is fitting because the first-ever game played in the venue was against the Buckeyes.
This game drew the attention of every college football fan and that's actually a massive recruiting bonus because all Dan Lanning has to do is show prospects the numbers from this game and say, "Why wouldn't you want to play in front of the biggest audiences ever?"
Oregon ended up winning this thriller in primetime and now the Ducks are being touted as one of the top national title contenders and Dillon Gabriel's Heisman resume got a huge boost.
This program is rising rapidly.