When legendary player, coach and college football analyst Lee Corso suited up for his final appearance on ESPN's , an average of 3.5 million people tuned in to watch—which makes Saturday's the show's most-watched episode of all time, according to and preliminary Nielsen ratings. Final numbers are expected to push that tally closer to 4 million.
Viewership peaked with 5.1 million viewers in the show's final 15 minutes, when the 90-year-old Corso made his final headgear pick (he selected Ohio State, in a wonderful full-circle moment).
Prior to Saturday's goodbye, had never surpassed 3 million viewers for an entire episode, per The previous viewership record-holding ep (2.6 million) was from November 2007, ahead of a Kansas-Missouri match-up.
In a fitting end to his final ep, Corso also aced his predictions across the weekend’s big-game slate, for which he went six-for-six, and even shot his shot on two upsets: LSU over Clemson and Florida State over Alabama.
Lee Corso, you'll be missed. And if you had any lingering doubt, these viewership numbers should be evidence enough.
