The Texas Longhorns were pretty underwhelming in 2025 compared to their preseason goals and expectations, but they were still one of the most watched teams in all of college football this year.
According to Nielson, Texas had an average of 7.546 million viewers per game in 2025, second to only Alabama at 8.493 million. That's an insane amount of viewship for a three-loss SEC team.
It goes to show how incredibly strong the Longhorns' fanbase is, and how loyal they are. Despite a lot of things going wrong for Steve Sarkisian and Co. this year, Texas fans kept watching each and every week.
Nielsen has been tracking the most-watched teams in college football this season and at the conclusion of the regular season, Texas has registered the second-highest viewership numbers in the nation — averaging 7.546 million viewers per game🤘🏼 pic.twitter.com/HihUA87MGT
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) December 5, 2025
Looking at the other most-viewed teams on the top10 list, the most surprising numbers might be from Ohio State and Auburn, but for different reasons. Ohio State is one of the best and most exciting programs in the nation, but a team like Texas is ahead of them on the viewership list? That's pretty crazy.
Auburn on the other hand has always been disappointing and hard to watch but they're managing to get over 5 million fans to watch them play. Hugh Freeze was also a head coach that a lot of people disliked, which makes their number even crazier.
It'll be interesting to see how close the Longhorns can come to Alabama in 2026, as the Crimson Tide's viewership numbers usually stay around that 8-8.5 million mark. It's no secret that Texas football is on an upward trajectory heading into 2026, so it's entirely possible that we see Arch Manning and Co. finishing at No.1 on the list around this time next year.