Notre Dame Victory Over No. 1 Miami Is Third Most-Watched Primetime Game in 35 Years of Fighting Irish Football on NBC

The Miami-Notre Dame thriller on Saturday night is NBC Sports’ third-most watched primetime Notre Dame Football game since the Notre Dame on NBC package began in 1991, averaging a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 9.1 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, based on official Nielsen Big Data + Panel and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

The audience for the Fighting Irish’s 31-24 victory over No. 1 Miami peaked at 12 million viewers in the fourth quarter (11 p.m.-11:10 p.m. ET) as Notre Dame held off the Hurricanes’ last-minute touchdown attempt to seal the win. Viewership for the full game (7:32 p.m.-11:10 p.m. ET p.m. ET) ranks third among Notre Dame Football primetime games on NBC since 1991, trailing only a pair of thrillers – 10.6 million viewers for No. 6 Ohio State at No. 9 Notre Dame in 2023 and 10.4 million for No. 1 Clemson at No. 3 Notre Dame double OT matchup in 2020.

Additionally, Miami-Notre Dame was the most-watched college football game of the weekend across all networks and the most-watched Saturday night event on NBC since Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference Finals on May 30, 2026.

Additional viewership highlights:

• Through five games, Notre Dame on NBC is averaging 5.1 million viewers, its best mark since the 2020 season.
• Sunday’s game is up 170% vs. Notre Dame’s comparable 2025 game on NBC (Navy on Nov. 8, 3.4M).