The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl drew a national TV audience of more than 17 million viewers Saturday despite LSU's dominance of Oklahoma quickly draining all suspense about the outcome.
The ESPN telecast of the game, a College Football Playoff semifinal, was watched by an average of 17,214,000 viewers. The audience peaked at 18.9 million viewers from 5:15-5:30 p.m., still in the first half. LSU led 49-14 at halftime and went on to a 63-28 win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The other CFP semifinal, Clemson’s come-from-behind 29-23 win over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, also televised by ESPN, averaged 21.2 million viewers.
The audiences for both games were up from last year’s similarly scheduled semifinals, averaging a 6% increase, making them the most watched pair of CFP semifinals played outside of New Year’s Day.
Viewership figures above include Nielsen-rated “MegaCast” feeds on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews but don’t include ACC Network, SEC Network, ESPN Deportes and digital programming.
LSU and Clemson will face off in the national championship game Jan. 13 (8 p.m., ESPN) in New Orleans.
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