All week long, both fans of the Penn State Nittany Lions and Michigan Wolverines eagerly awaited Saturday’s matchup in Happy Valley. It was clearly the biggest college football game of the weekend and there was little doubt it would end up being the highest rated game too.
According to ESPN/ABC programming, Michigan vs. Penn State did draw the biggest TV audience of the weekend as it drew a 4.2 overnight rating.
You would think that the biggest ratings would have come from Michigan and Pennsylvania, right? After all, that is where the biggest portion of the Wolverines and Nittany Lions fan bases are located.
But, that was not the case and once again, we have further evidence that Ohio State fans care more about Michigan than they do their own team. On Saturday, the No. local market for the Michigan vs. Penn State game was none other than Columbus, Ohio, the home of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Columbus drew a 17.1 rating, ahead of Detroit which came in at 16.3. No. 3 was Dayton, Ohio, which drew an 11.4 rating.
Overall, Penn State’s win over Michigan was the 2nd highest rated game of the season, only behind the Week 1 matchup between Florida State and Alabama. It was the second-straight week that Michigan was involved in the highest rated game of the week. Last week, the Wolverine’s overtime win over Indiana was the highest rated college football game of the weekend.
This coming Saturday, the streak will likely come to an end as Michigan hosts Rutgers at the “Big House” in Ann Arbor.
