All eyes on Michigan-Ohio State

Hundreds of people throughout college sports will be working events this Thanksgiving weekend. We appreciate your hard work.

“The Game” between undefeated teams Michigan and Ohio State has its sights set on delivering a season-high in viewership for its broadcasters at Fox. The game with the highest viewership so far this season is Tennessee-Georgia, which drew 13.06 million viewers in Week 10 on CBS.

If the Wolverines and Buckeyes can match last season’s viewership of 15.893 million viewers, it most likely will finish as the regular season’s most-viewed game. With the Wolverines ranked No. 3 and the Buckeyes No. 2, they have every reason to think they will.

After careful consultation with SBJ’s ratings guru, Austin Karp, I’d set the over-under for viewership at 18.5 million. He’s going over, and I’m going under.

Fox will prime the pump before “The Game” with a special three-hour edition of Big Noon Kickoff leading up to the 12pm start. Producer Bardia Shah-Rais, who also manages the studio program for Fox’s MLB coverage, said weeks of planning have gone into the expanded college show once it became apparent that the Buckeyes and Wolverines were on a collision course as unbeaten teams.

Two segments to watch: Former Michigan great Charles Woodson interviews UM coach Jim Harbaugh, and Tom Rinaldi features Michigan’s Blake Corum, who uses the revenue from his NIL earnings to power a Thanksgiving food drive in Ann Arbor.

Shah-Rais offered this insight when I asked him about his touch with studio shows: “Honestly, I think it’s a matter of getting the trust of the people on the air. You’re asking them to execute a little bit of your vision and a little bit of their vision. So, you need that trust factor because, ultimately, it’s their name and personality that they’re trusting us with.”

One of the more unique basketball events launches Friday on Oahu’s North Shore, where Hawaii, Texas State, Sacramento State and Southern Utah will play over two days in what is being called the inaugural Patty Mills North Shore Classic. Mills, the former St. Mary’s star who has played 14 seasons in the NBA, is covering the cost of the event, from lodging to rent to the officials.

I’m not aware of any other basketball tournaments like this that features the name of a star player as the title sponsor. It’s not unlike golf tournaments that are PGA Tour players host, like Jack Nicklaus’ the Memorial Tournament, where the host of the event becomes integral to its identity. At least, that’s the idea.

Mills is a longtime resident of the North Shore, where he got married and has kept a home throughout his professional career. Hawaii and its coach, Eran Ganot, are managing the tournament. They hope it becomes an annual event that attracts blue-chip fields.

One other interesting aspect is that the tournament is being played at the Cannon Activities Center on the campus of BYU-Hawaii, even though the school no longer fields a basketball team. Teams are staying at Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore.

Highest viewership for college football games this season:

• College football “will be returning to video game consoles with the first version of ‘EA Sports College Football’ launching in the summer of 2024,” according to ESPN.

• FS1 on Friday drew the two best audiences yet for the Gavitt Tipoff Games, the annual early season men’s hoops series featuring the Big East vs. the Big Ten that began in 2015, notes SBJ’s Austin Karp. Villanova-Michigan State at 8pm ET averaged 598,000 viewers, while Indiana-Xavier averaged 440,000.

• Ohio State-Maryland led all college football games in Week 12, with ABC drawing just under 6.6 million viewers for the game in the 3:30pm ET window, notes Karp. ABC’s Illinois-Michigan at noon was No. 2 (5.47 million), while ESPN’s Tennessee-South Carolina was No. 3 with 4.87 million.

• BTN is averaging 107,000 for Big Ten volleyball games this season, a record-high for the conference network, notes Karp. After a soft lead-in from the Rutgers-Penn State football game on Saturday night, BTN averaged 199,000 viewers for the Wisconsin-Penn State volleyball match at 8pm ET. Volleyball matches this season with football lead-ins are averaging 160,000 viewers, which is 50% higher than standalone matches.  

• Las Vegas is a first-time host site for the Men’s Final Four in 2028, the NCAA announced today. Vegas also is scheduled to host nine other NCAA championships before 2026. Meanwhile, Detroit will host its second Final Four in 2027, Indianapolis for the 10th time in 2029 and North Texas (Arlington) for the second time in 2030.

• The late Vince Dooley will be honored with the Nick Saban Legacy Award in February. The award, in its second year, is presented by the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham, which is known as the oldest continuing football club in the country. Dooley, the former football coach and AD at Georgia, died at age 90 last month.