UCF/Louisville Draws 1.85 million TV Viewers

The UCF Knights’ 20-14 loss on Friday night was watched by 1.85 million viewers on ESPN2, according to ShowBuzzDaily

That number is down slightly from last year’s game, which drew 1.881 million viewers. It is also down from the classic 2013 Knights win at Louisville which drew 2.2 million viewers on ESPN.

Keep in mind this year’s game aired on ESPN2, where last year’s game aired on ESPN, and faced tough television competition from the U.S. Open Tennis Men’s semifinal match that featured Frances Tiafoe, who was the first American to make the U.S. Open semis since 2006. The tennis match drew 2.96 million viewers on ESPN, making it the most-watched program on cable television that night, and the second-most-watched overall, trailing only ABC’s 20/20 (3.1 million).

Louisville-UCF was the second-most watched cable program by those in the age 18-49 demographic (0.52), behind only Alcaraz-Tiafoe (0.67), and 3rd overall if you include network television, as WWE Smackdown drew a 0.57.

According to ESPNPR, Louisville-UCF was most watched ESPN2 Football game in 5 years. It is the 2nd most watched UCF exclusive ESPN2 telecast behind only the Knights game at Ohio State on 9/8/2012 (2.2 million).

UCF will be on CBS Sports Network this Saturday night at Florida Atlantic with kick-off at 7:30 p.m.

The Knights announced on Monday that their home game against Georgia Tech on September 24th would start either at 3:30 or 4 p.m. and air either on either ESPN2 or ESPNU. The final time and network slot will be set after the FAU game. Georgia Tech-UCF will compete with Indiana-Cincinnati for the ESPN2 slot.