Last week, BYU concluded the 2025 football season with a victory over Georgia Tech in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. The Cougars wrapped up their campaign with an impressive 12-2 record, marking the first time the program achieved 12 wins in a single season since 2001. Over the last two seasons, BYU has posted a remarkable 23-4 record.
The team”s success has significantly enhanced BYU”s visibility and brand recognition in ways previously unseen. When BYU transitioned to independence in 2012, one of the primary motivations was to increase exposure. This decision led to a partnership with ESPN. With BYU now performing well in the Big 12, the team”s television ratings have surged to levels the program has long sought.
At BYU On SI, we have been monitoring television ratings since the independence era. Notably, three of BYU”s four most-watched games since 2012 occurred in the latter part of the 2025 season. Consequently, it is highly probable that the 2025 BYU football squad was the most viewed in the program”s modern history. Furthermore, all four of BYU”s most-watched games since 2012 have taken place within the last 13 months.
Here are the ten most-watched BYU football games since 2012:
- BYU vs. Georgia Tech – Pop-Tarts Bowl
- BYU vs. Colorado – Alamo Bowl
- Other notable games
In the earlier independence days, any game surpassing three million viewers would have easily made the top ten. However, in the past 13 months, BYU has participated in three games that attracted an average viewership of over eight million. A record-setting audience tuned in to watch BYU triumph over Georgia Tech in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, which averaged 8.7 million viewers—making it the second most-watched game in BYU”s modern era, only trailing the Big 12 championship game. According to ESPN PR, this viewership figure represents the highest count for a non-College Football Playoff (CFP) bowl game since the 2019 Citrus Bowl.
This marks the second consecutive year that BYU has appeared in the most-watched non-CFP bowl game. Last year”s matchup against Colorado generated the largest television audience in the 33-year history of the Alamo Bowl, surpassing even the viewership of the Citrus Bowl from 2019. Remarkably, BYU broke that record just one year later in a different bowl against a different opponent.
According to BYU associate director of communications Duff Tittle, last year”s Alamo Bowl was believed to be the second most-watched game in BYU history. A game played in 1953 against Utah reportedly attracted more than 60 million viewers.
Enhancing BYU”s brand is a crucial long-term objective for the athletic department, and the surge in TV viewership has played a significant role in advancing this goal over the past two years.
