TV viewership numbers prove Tennessee has been a strong national brand
It's been a rough stretch since Tennessee last made the SEC Championship Game in 2007. Before Danny White and Josh Heupel arrived in Knoxville, it had been thirteen years of pure futility with coaches and athletic department leadership that were simply unable to figure out how to turn the program into a winner again. Fans […]
It's been a rough stretch since Tennessee last made the SEC Championship Game in 2007. Before Danny White and Josh Heupel arrived in Knoxville, it had been thirteen years of pure futility with coaches and athletic department leadership that were simply unable to figure out how to turn the program into a winner again.
Fans of UT's rivals certainly enjoyed themselves during that time, claiming that Tennessee had become irrelevant in the college football universe.
Well, it turns out they were wrong in at least one major aspect. Very wrong, actually.
Tennessee remained among the most watched teams in all of college football for a sizeable stretch of that near decade and a half of misery. According to The Athletic's Stewart Mandel, Tennessee was tied with Notre Dame for seventh-most games with at least 4 million viewers from 2015-2022.
That's a period that saw Tennessee find moderate success in 2015-2016 with back-to-back 9-win seasons before nose diving from 2017 through the 2020 season with a combined record of 20-27.
And yet, people still watched the games. That was especially the case last season when the Vols became appointment television across the country during their memorable 11-win season.
According to Sports Media Watch, Tennessee games were in the top five of national viewership six times last season – at Pitt, vs. Florida, vs. Alabama, vs. Kentucky, at Georgia, and at South Carolina. The games against Florida, Alabama, and Georgia – all in the CBS 3:30 pm slot – led the nation those weeks. And yes, while the CBS mid-day slot is often the most viewed, the Alabama and Georgia games still both eclipsed a whopping 11.5 million viewers each, both of which surpassed every conference title game – even the SEC Championship Game.
Those are undeniably big numbers. And that's one of three factors Mandel says would keep Tennessee as a part of any potential super league that results from the continuing exclusion and shrinking of college football from a power five to perhaps eventually a power one. The others are a large national following (check) and a little bit of recent success (also check).
Tennessee has a brand. A very popular one. One that people obviously want to watch. One that will help drive advertising dollars and make TV executives happy. One that has stayed steady and strong through one of its worst runs for Tennessee football in a very, very long time.
The facts prove that rival fans were wrong about the Vols. Too bad that any Tennessee fan could've helped doubters figure that out.
Josh Heupel hints that a special season could be on the way for the Tennessee Vols in 2023
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel hinted that a special season could be on the way in 2023 for UT football.
Featured image via Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
