Miami-Florida was many things. The breaking of a long offseason dam. A renewal of a fierce rivalry. Exciting. An on-field jamboree of bad tackling and sloppy play. It was also a great success for ESPN, which benefitted from this whole Week Zero thing.
The game drew a 4.1 overnight rating, making it the highest-rated regular-season college football on the network since Ohio State-Michigan in 2016, the company said in a release. College GameDay also saw a 60 percent ratings increase from last year’s Week Zero show, which was obviously significantly less attractive due to a lack of big game. This means a lot more people saw Desmond Howard channel Wayne Brady.
This is also evidently the best opening game for the network to date, so perhaps they can make a trophy for each school to share in the spirit of Florida unity.
