Many eyes were on the Buckeyes as they played their first game of 2021 on Thursday night.
Ohio State's 45-31 win over Minnesota drew 6,295,000 viewers on television, making it Fox's most-watched Week 1 game ever and the most-watched Week 1 Thursday college football game ever on any network.
The game was the 10th-most-watched and the third-most-streamed college football game that Fox has ever aired, was the most-watched telecast of the day on any network and drew 41% more viewers than Fox's average viewership for games during the last full regular season in 2019.
Thursday nights @OhioStateFB - @GopherFootball matchup was the most-watched Week 1 college football game ever on FOX
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) September 3, 2021
It also ranked as the 3rd most-streamed regular season college football game in FOX Sports history pic.twitter.com/J44SuRqmaG
As the marquee game on the first Thursday night slate of the college football season on a week where there were no NFL games, it's no surprised that droves of college football fans tuned in to watch the Buckeyes play a competitive game with the Gophers, with viewership peaking at more than 7 million viewers between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m. (late in the first half).
Fox will be hoping to draw even bigger ratings next Saturday at noon when it televises Ohio State’s highly anticipated second game of the year against Oregon at Ohio Stadium.
