Fiesta Bowl most watched non-New Year’s Day Semifinal of CFP era

ESPN is reporting that the Fiesta Bowl between Ohio State and Clemson was the most watched non-New Year’s Day CFP semifinal to date.

According to the ESPN PR department, the Fiesta Bowl between Ohio State and Clemson was the most watched College Football Playoff semifinal not played on New Year’s Day.

That’s a mouth full, but you know what they mean. No, not that semifinal games should be played on January 1 (sounds too obvious doesn’t it), but that a lot of people were interested in what went down in the desert on Saturday night.

All told, ESPN reports that the game had 21.2 Million viewers. That’s the highest viewership of eight total semifinals played before New Year’s Day, and is a bump of 9 percent over last year’s most watched semifinal.

So, if you were literally tuned into the dramatics and flair happening inside of State Farm Stadium, you were clearly not alone.