Will Razorbacks Fans Use CFP Game to Numb Pain of Auburn Loss?

Michigan's villain role might be one thing to save title game ratings in places like Arkansas, SEC footprint

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Jan 8, 2024 10:48 AM EST
Original:
Jan 8, 2024

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A lot of people may have forgotten, but there is a national championship game tonight between Washington and Michigan. The only question is whether people care, especially in places throughout the SEC like Arkansas.

Under typical circumstances, the answer would be not really. However, there are a few extenuating circumstances that hint Razorbacks fans might give it at least a cursory glance.

The reality is, if Razorback basketball was playing like an actual Arkansas team, the interest would be severely limited. However, especially after the fiasco that took place against Auburn at Bud Walton Saturday, Hog fans are desperate for anything to take their minds off where things are at the moment, and getting lost in a national championship game with no rooting interest provides a possible brain break.

However, throughout the rest of the conference, it's hard to gauge whether there is interest. When SEC teams are in the championship game, the entire conference footprint is glued in until it gets out of hand because everyone has a vested interest in whether the conference representative is going to bring the title back to the territory.

That's not what it's like in the Big Ten or Pac 12 though. For some reason that idea of a conference family where when one wins, everyone wins is more or less unique to the SEC.

The rest of the country needs a villain, and the SEC has always provided Goliath to everyone else's David in the playoffs. One fortunate break for ESPN is MIchigan has firmly established itself as a true villain with multiple cheating problems ranging from dressing up as coaches from random teams to record an opponents' signals to computer related cheating that has drawn the FBI's interest.

People would like to see John Harbaugh and his Wolverines suffer a painful defeat simply out of what should be right in the world. If Michigan hadn't done so many shady things and a different Big Ten team made it to the finals, there would be almost zero interest in this game in SEC country. Washington versus Ohio State, Penn State or Wisconsin doesn't move the needle because it'd be a generic Rose Bowl game disguised as a national title game.

As for Washington, quarterback Michael Penix is the lone draw. Prior to last week against Texas, most of America hadn't seen him play because of how West Coast schedules work. Watching him throw for 430 yards and a pair of touchdowns to hold off a late push by the the SEC bound Longhorns may have been enough to convince causal fans to check in for a second peek.

The only College Football Playoff game to not feature an SEC team was between Ohio State and Oregon to cap the 2014 season. The game drew over 30 million viewers. However, because that hasn't happened since, it's hard to tell whether that's a possible correlation for what to expect this year.

That was the first year of the CFP, so there was the novelty of the event to draw big numbers. Also, it tool place during the early days of cord cutting. To put things in perspective, the semifinal games were over 28 million each. Over the past several years that number as dropped well into the teens.

The one thing ESPN can't absorb is another early blowout situation. Last year's championship game between Georgia and TCU was the first title game to do fewer numbers than the semifinal games. That's because by the time streaming customers let a little time to build up so they can skip the early commercials, the game was so out of hand there was no reason to watch.

It will definitely be interesting to see whether CM Punk getting the spotlight on Monday Night Raw will outdraw Washington-Michigan in Arkansas. Still, either one will go a long way toward washing that nasty Auburn taste out of Razorbacks' fans' mouths temporarily.