SALT LAKE CITY, UT - NOVEMBER 20: Anthony Brown #13 of the Oregon Ducks is flushed out of the pocket during their game against the Utah Utes November 20, 2021 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City , Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)Saturday’s matchup between No. 3 Oregon and No. 24 Utah pulled in some massive ratings for ABC/ESPN.
According to ESPN PR, this marquee matchup brought in 4.8 million viewers — making this the most-watched regular-season Pac-12 game since 2014.
With these big-time ratings, ABC won the night in primetime among all networks. With an average of 4.5 million viewers, this was the network’s fourth-best day of the season.
#OREvsUTAH on @ABCNetwork's Saturday Night Football was the most-watched @pac12 regular season conference game in 7 years
∙ 4.8M viewers
∙ ABC won the night in primetime
∙ ABC/ESPN | top networks in primetime among all key male/adult demos for 3 straight weeks pic.twitter.com/IKC6kbWlJ6— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) November 23, 2021
One of the reasons this game pulled in so many viewers was the massive College Football Playoff implications hanging in the balance. As a one-loss team with a No. 3 ranking in the CFP polls, Oregon needed to claim victory over the Utes in order to keep its postseason hopes alive.
Utah shut down those hopes in blowout fashion. With a 38-7 final score, the Utes dismantled the Ducks — ultimately knocking them out of College Football Playoff contention.
Oregon (9-2) has dropped to No. 11 and Utah (8-3) has jumped up to No. 16 in the new rankings.
With this big-time win, Utah secured the Pac-12 South title and its third outright title in the last 11 seasons. In order to win the Pac-12 South, Oregon will have to bounce-back and take down Oregon State this coming Saturday.
If that happens, Oregon and Utah will face off with a rematch in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
