Games with the hype of Notre Dame and Clemson on Saturday night often times don’t live up to the billing, but this one had it all.
A quick start by the underdog, highlight catches, controversial calls, back and forth action a late comeback and a pair of overtimes to boot.
All of that coupled with the most anticipated Saturday Night Live of the year having to be pushed back made NBC a huge winner in the ratings game Saturday night as the game averaged a total audience delivery of 9.44 million viewers according to NBC, making it the most viewed Notre Dame game on NBC since the famed “Bush Push” contest in 2005.
Dave Chappelle hosting Saturday Night Live to conclude election week certainly didn’t hurt matters either as some looking for that as the game went to a second overtime helped the audience peak at 14.2 million viewers from 11:30-11:45 p.m. ET.
Notre Dame’s home season, the 30th of which has been broadcast on NBC, concludes on December 5 when the Irish host Syracuse at 2:30 p.m. ET.
