The Wisconsin Badgers vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish was the most-watched college football game of the week, and it wasn't even close. The Shamrock Series at Lambeau Field brought in over two million more viewers than the next closest game, LSU vs. Clemson, according to Nielsen. The Apple Cup on NBC, with Washington playing Washington State (a rare Week 1 rivalry), was just a few clicks behind that second-place spot.
The top dog at over 8.1 million viewers was Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame. It proves something about Wisconsin fans that absolutely has to be discussed. After a four-win season, the Badger fans and the Wisconsin product hasn't dropped off the face of the planet. Badger fans turned on the TVs, showed up in the stands, and football casuals tuned in to see the new Luke Fickell product.
Your final Week 1 TV ratings, per Nielsen:
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 10, 2026
ND-Wis. (NBC): 8.1M
LSU-Clemson (ABC): 5.8M
Wash-Wash St (NBC): 5.1M
Oregon-Boise St (CBS): 4.8M
Lou-Ole Miss (ABC): 4.7M
Baylor-Auburn (ABC): 4.2M
Mich-WMU (NBC): 4.1M
FSU-SMU (ESPN): 4.1M
Sunday doubleheader paid off big for NBC.
Notre Dame doesn't get all the credit for the extremely high TV rating
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It might be easy to say, well, fans were tuning in to watch Notre Dame, and Wisconsin just happened to be the team they were playing. Yet, that's not even true in the slightest. NBC announced that this was the third-highest-watched Notre Dame game in 20 years on their network. The only two that surpassed it were in 2023, when the Irish played the Ohio State Buckeyes, and in 2020, when Notre Dame took on Clemson.
NBC announces that Notre Dame-Wisconsin was the most-watched college football game of the weekend (8.1 million viewers) and the third-most watched Irish game on the network since '05, behind Ohio State ('23) and Clemson ('20).
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) September 10, 2026
Both of those games were ranked matchups. It was No. 6 Ohio State vs. No. 16 Notre Dame in 2023. Clemson vs. Notre Dame in 2020 was actually two top-five teams squaring off, with the Tigers at No. 2 and the Irish at No. 4. So, if any of those ratings need a caveat, it's not the Wisconsin one; it's the other two.
Wisconsin fans tipped the scales in a huge way for Week One both in-person and on TV
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Wisconsin fans showed up, and you literally can't spin it in any other direction. Badger fans were both present and accounted for at Lambeau Field and were clearly watching on TV. While reports say that Lambeau had about a 50/50 mix of Notre Dame fans and Wisconsin fans, it could have been slightly more Badgers in attendance (it does help that it's more local).
Yet, think about this: even with the local presence, the Badgers won four games last season. The ticket prices were in the hundreds of dollars per seat all the way up until kickoff. This is a prime opportunity for a Badger fan who wants to make a little cash by selling the tickets. Sure, some may have done this, but so did some Notre Dame fans. Opportunity strikes every fanbase equally.
The narrative that needs to be grasped, though, is that Wisconsin fans aren't gone. They went toe-to-toe with Notre Dame fans in a stadium and took an NBC game to the top of the list, pushing the Week One game to an all-time high. 8.1 million people tuned in to see Wisconsin and Notre Dame.
Sure, it didn't go the way that Wisconsin fans were hoping, but you can't blame the fanbase for that. Badger fans are still here, ready to rock, and ready to see this program back at the top.
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