Colorado vs. Oregon draws over 10 million viewers: Will interest in the Buffaloes last?

Colorado’s blowout loss to Oregon garnered more viewers than Ohio State’s narrow evasion of Notre Dame in the final seconds of play on Saturday. Here’s what you need to know:

Oregon-Colorado recorded 10.03 million viewers on ABC, per Nielsen. Notre Dame-Ohio State drew 9.98 million viewers on NBC.
Including Peacock streaming, the Fighting Irish and Buckeyes drew 10.6 million total viewers, according to NBC.
The Buffaloes lost to the Ducks by 36 points and will face USC on Saturday.

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

Is Colorado an anomaly?

Having covered sports viewership for some time, there is a group of college football programs that have historically dominated viewership. Those programs include Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan and Notre Dame. We see other programs pop with viewership when they are successful (Georgia, USC, Clemson and Florida State are examples) but the four I listed above are standards. This is what makes Colorado so remarkable.

The Buffs have become a national team this season with no national television reputation for decades. That Oregon-Colorado drew 10 million people in a blowout speaks directly to the interest. People are watching to see coach Deion Sanders win or lose. The point is they care. This is the second Colorado game that has drawn more than nine million viewers (9.30 million viewers for Colorado-Colorado State).

Don’t expect the viewership to drop this week with an undefeated USC traveling to Colorado to play at noon ET on Fox. I’d predict another viewership number close to 10 million viewers. — Deitsch

Is Colorado’s viewership success sustainable?

While the viewership numbers are likely not to be as eye-popping as they are this year, I think Colorado can remain a top-10 viewership team as long as Sanders remains the coach.

First, you’d expect Colorado’s talent to improve over the next two recruiting classes. They have Nebraska scheduled for Sept. 7, 2024, and Colorado State scheduled for Sept. 14, 2024, and those two games should get some hype from the network broadcasting them. Sanders has always had the ability to get people talking about him and I don’t think that will change in 2024. — Deitsch

Backstory

Colorado hired Sanders in December, and he quickly completed a roster overhaul of his inherited team, headlined by Jackson State transfers Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. The Buffaloes put themselves on the map with an opening 45-42 victory over then-17th-ranked TCU, when Shedeur became the first player in Colorado history to pass for more than 500 yards in a single game.

The Buffs then defeated rival Colorado State in double overtime in Week 3, which became ESPN’s most-watched late prime-time game on record with 9.3 million viewers and peaked at 11.1 million. The school announced a few days later that all home games for the 2023 season had sold out.

Even in a 42-6 loss to Oregon, interest in Colorado remains high.