A pair of Saturday NFL games drew a larger viewing audience than college football for the rollout of the sport's 12-team playoff. The playoff game between SMU and Penn State averaged 6.4 million viewers on TNT networks,

College football's 12-team playoff rollout was spoiled by the NFL, with the Texans-Chiefs getting 15.5 million viewers while the SMU-Penn State game averaged 6.4 million. The Steelers-Ravens game drew 15.

This is the very first college football playoff appearance for both programs. James Franklin’s Nittany Lions have been a mainstay in the postseason, playing in a bowl game every year since he was hired 2014 outside of the COVID year. However, this is the first time the stakes have been this big.