Wolverine Digest

Michigan vs. Purdue Week 10 matchup draws big TV audience

A lot of college football fans tuned in to see the Wolverines take on the Boilermakers
Seth Berry|
Michigan defensive back Mason Curtis (25) tackles Purdue wide receiver Michael Jackson III (2) during the second half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, November 1, 2025.
Michigan defensive back Mason Curtis (25) tackles Purdue wide receiver Michael Jackson III (2) during the second half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, November 1, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Michigan Wolverines

The game between No. 21 Michigan football and Purdue this past Saturday wasn't exactly considered a marquee matchup, as the Wolverines were expected to blow past the Boilermakers with ease, who remain winless in Big Ten play.

Zack Marshal
Michigan tight end Zack Marshall (83) makes a catch against Purdue defensive back Vi'Naz Cobb (15) during the second half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, November 1, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

However, with the matchup being in primetime and Purdue making things than expected, the game, which Michigan ended up on the winning end of by a final score of 21-16, drew an average of 1.6 million viewers on the Big Ten Network, according to an article from On3.

That number was good enough to earn a spot in the top 10 most watched games of the weekend across college football as the particular matchup was the ninth-most watched game, according to the On3 article.

The 1.6 million viewers on average came just ahead of the Miami-SMU game, which averaged 1.5 viewers on ESPN. Florida and Georgia, ABC's 3:30 p.m. game this past Saturday, set the pace for the most-watched college football game of the weekend with 7.8 million viewers on average. Penn State at Ohio State, which was Fox's Big Noon matchup, was just behind that at 7.2 million viewers.

Despite being involved in some of the most-watched games this season, the Wolverines are not in the top 10 overall when it comes to teams that have drawn the most viewership, according to a separate On3 report.

Alabama has been the most-consumed team in college football this season, averaging 7.91 million viewers per game. Ohio State is the only Big Ten program to appear on that list, drawing 6.26 million viewers per week, which ranks fifth in the nation.

More from Michigan on SI

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Seth Berry
SETH BERRY

Seth began writing on Michigan athletics in 2015 and has remained in the U-M media space ever since, which includes stops at Maize N Brew and Rivals before coming onto Michigan On SI in June of 2025. Seth has covered various angles of Michigan football and basketball, including recruiting, overall team coverage and feature/analysis stories relating to the Wolverines. His passion for Michigan sports and desire to tell stories led him to the sports journalism world. He is a 2020 graduate of Western Michigan University and is the former sports editor of the Western Herald, WMU's student newspaper.

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