Martin: Questioning College Football's greatness?

After rolling the strike, Weber looked at the crowd and shouted, “Who do you think you are? I am!” It became one of the most quoted phrases in its aftermath because of how insane of a visual it was to watch a professional bowler flex on the crowd in attendance. And still to this day, people recognize those words pieced that were so randomly pieced together.

But in a way it was brilliant. Weber’s outburst was directed at a fan that was trash talking him while he made this championship pursuit. Weber’s enthusiasm and tone spoke louder than any of the words that were actually muttered. It was a declaration to the people. “How could you doubt my greatness?”

College football had its Pete Weber moment this postseason.

Oh you don’t like name, image and likeness? You’re not crazy about the transfer portal? Turned off by all of the opt outs in bowl games? All of the things we love to complain about (and trust me, I’m included in this) suddenly disappeared.

Was anyone griping when Pittsburgh won a back-and-forth battle with No. 18 UCLA? Did anyone tune out when Notre Dame was making a game-winning drive in the final two minutes to beat South Carolina? Were folks yawning their way through a Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic that saw Tulane erase a 16-point deficit in the final four minutes?

No, on the contrary, more fans were watching than the norm.

How do I know this? Well, just look at the numbers. The things that many people declared was killing the sport and driving fans away actually had no baring on viewership this postseason.

The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl averaged 22.1M viewers, which made it the most watched primetime semifinal since the first year and fourth best semifinal of the College Football Playoff era. It peaked at 23.9M viewers to become a top 20 cable telecast of all-time. Between the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl and the Peach Bowl, the College Football Playoffs Semifinals averaged 21.7M viewers, which made it the most watched non-New Year’s Day Semifinals of the College Football era.  

So much for New Years Eve being a failed experiment. Some felt that timeslot was impossible to garner large viewership due to New Years habits. People love to shoot fireworks with their kids or go to a local establishment to celebrate the new year with friends, but this data proves that some will put off going out just a little bit longer to watch drama unfold in meaningful college football games.

The truth is college football remains a giant in the sports landscape. Does it have its share of problems? Absolutely, and trust me, we aren’t done complaining about tampering going on at schools, among many other things. But we’re still going to watch. No matter how frustrating it gets, we always come back.

Question college football’s greatness? “Who do you think you are…”