Early TV Ratings For National Title Game Blowout Are Unbelievably Bad

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The TV ratings for Georgia crushing TCU in the national title game are brutally low.

Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs slashed up and cut through the Horned Frogs in dominating fashion Monday night to win 65-7.

It was one of the most lopsided games of the season, and the fact it happened in the national title game was nothing short of humiliating for TCU.

In the early TV ratings, which will likely see a bump, the game averaged around 17.2 million viewers across ESPN channels. If the number remains that low, it will be the lowest college football national title game since back when the BCS era started, according to SBJ's Austin Karp. The game is also easily the least watched championship matchup of the CFP era.

The numbers also appear to show viewers fled once the blowout was on in the second quarter. For comparison, the semifinals averaged 22.1 million viewers. Not only was the title game lower, but it was lower by a significant margin.

People didn't stick around to watch Georgia crush TCU.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the national title game started bleeding viewers. It was 38-7 when the clock hit zero in the first half.

Once the Georgia Bulldogs went up 24-7 with 8:30 left in the second quarter, it felt like the game was likely out of reach for the Horned Frogs. Once Kirby Smart's team went up 31-7 with a little more than a minute left in the first half, it was a wrap for TCU.

Georgia beat TCU 65-7 to win the national title. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

That's when viewers decided it was time to watch something else and people tuned out. The fact the game didn't even average 18 million viewers in the early data is simply brutal for ESPN and the CFP.

It goes to show that lopsided matchups simply don't draw eyeballs when things go sideways.

Georgia/TCU national title game gets terrible TV ratings. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

If there's a silver lining, at least a record low number of people watched TCU get massacred on live TV. Maybe that makes it a bit easier on the Horned Frogs.