CU Buffs still dominating TV ratings despite 2-2 start

The Colorado Buffaloes have been a ratings gold mine for television executives since Coach Prime stepped foot in Boulder. Many people in the college football world turned on the TV to see what Prime was building in Boulder with the Buffs and to see just how good the likes of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter were, while some were changing the channel rooting for a Buffs loss.

Big Noon Kickoff came to town twice, College Gameday came to town once, and the Buffs continued to be put on national broadcasts throughout the first two years of the Prime era. Heading into year three, without the star power taking the field for the black and gold for another year, it would’ve been a reasonable prediction to think that the ratings would dip.

Through four weeks, that’s not the case, as the Buffs are dominating the TV ratings for college football programs in the western half of the country.

Total Reported 2025 TV Viewers thru Week 4

10.63M—Colorado
5.57M—Utah
5.54M—Oregon
4.10M—USC
3.97M—SJSU
3.16M—ASU
2.87M—New Mexico
2.63M—WSU
2.55M—Stanford
2.38M—Fresno St
2.24M—Nevada
2.19M—Washington
2.18M—Boise St
2.11M—Ore St
2.06M—Arizona
1.83M—BYU
1.80M—UCLA
1.53M—Hawai'i…

— SuperWest Sports (@SuperWestSports) September 25, 2025

SuperWest Sports covers Colorado, Air Force, Colorado State, Wyoming, New Mexico and every D-1 program to the West, including Oregon. There are quite a few teams on the list who are better football programs than the Buffs, but people have still been tuning in to watch the black and gold. On a national level, the Buffs are behind the Georgias and the Ohio States of the world, but their first three games were one of the eighth-most watched games in the country in each respective week, while last week’s win over Wyoming was 13th-most watched game, ahead of Syracuse’s big upset over Clemson in the early window.

This week’s contest against BYU will likely be another good showing for the Buffs ratings-wise. Saturday is one of the best college football slates of the year, but the Buffs and Cougars are playing all by themselves in the latest window of the day at 8:15 p.m. MDT. It’s far from the best game on the schedule, as there are four top-25 matchups taking place throughout the day, but it will be the only thing to watch for fans around the country looking to finish off what should be a marathon of a college football Saturday.

In the first two years of the Coach Prime era, the Buffs were tied with Georgia as the only programs to have at least 10 different games with at least three million viewers. they were sixth in total viewership in 2024 (46.32 million). Whether people love the Buffs or hate them, they’re still tuning in.

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