When legendary player, coach and college football analyst Lee Corso suited up for his final appearance on ESPN's College GameDay, 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 Front Office Sports 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, GameDay had never surpassed 3 million viewers for an entire episode, per FOS. 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.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lee Corso's Final 'College GameDay' Appearance Set Impressive Viewership Record.