As the bowls pile up, so do the declines.
Thursday’s Wisconsin-Miami Pinstripe Bowl delivered 3.79 million viewers on ESPN, down 5% from last year (Iowa-Boston College: 3.98M) but up 56% from 2016 (Northwestern-Pitt: 2.43M). Ratings were not immediately available.
The Badgers’ blowout win delivered the largest audience of the bowl season through Thursday’s play. The previous high was 3.33 million for the Las Vegas Bowl on December 15.
It ranks fifth out of the nine total editions of the Pinstripe Bowl (began in 2009), right in the middle of the pack.
Later in the night, Baylor-Vanderbilt had 3.34 million in the Texas Bowl — down 2% from last year (Texas-Missouri: 3.43M) and down 12% from 2016 (Kansas State-Texas A&M: 3.79M).
It was the least-watched Texas Bowl in nine years (2009 Navy-Missouri: 3.19M).
Rounding out the Thursday slate, the Duke-Temple Independence Bowl had 1.80 million (-18%).
On Wednesday, the TCU-Cal Cactus Bowl had 2.70 million — down 17% from last year (Kansas State-UCLA: 3.26M) but up 18% from 2016 (Baylor-Boise State: 2.28M).
The Horned Frogs’ widely-maligned, interception-filled win delivered the game’s second-smallest audience since 2009.
Earlier Wednesday, Minnesota-Georgia Tech scored 2.69 million in the Detroit Bowl — up 6% from last year (Duke-Northern Illinois: 2.53M) but down 11% from 2016 (Boston College-Maryland: 3.02M).
Through Thursday, 19 bowl games have aired on Nielsen rated networks. The Detroit Bowl was just the fourth of those to post an increase in ratings or viewership.
The Boston College-Boise State Dallas Bowl, which was canceled after one quarter due to lightning, had 1.45 million in just-over-a-half-hour of play.
The full list of college football bowl ratings is available here.
