Kansas football’s win over Illinois on ESPN2 reached a large national audience
The Kansas Jayhawks’ prime-time matchup against Illinois on Friday night drew plenty of eyeballs.
KU’s 34-23 victory over the Illini was a top 5 highest-viewed college football game on ESPN2 since 2019, Kansas football said on social media Wednesday.
The matchup garnered 1.4 million viewers. It ranked No. 12 overall for the Week 2 college football slate with a rating of 0.7, per sportsmediawatch.com. Texas vs. Alabama ranked No. 1, while Deion Sanders’ Colorado vs. Nebraska was No. 2.
The Jayhawks rolled to a 28-7 halftime lead in improving to 2-0 on the year. Quarterback Jalon Daniels returned and threw for two touchdowns in the win.
For KU, playing on prime time was seen as an opportunity to showcase the progress of the program. ESPN hadn’t picked KU for a nationally televised home weekday game since Kansas beat TCU 38-20 on the network in 1995.
“If you would have looked back at us a few years ago, we wanted that type of attention and notoriety,” Daniels said postgame. “The fact that we got that notoriety now and went (out) and executed with the win, it means a lot for the future of our program.”
The Jayhawks opened the season with back-to-back Friday, games, including the ESPN2 matchup vs. Illinois. Back in June, Kansas athletic director Travis Goff explained the decision to play non-Saturday games.
“The reality is, at this juncture, Kansas (vs.) Illinois wasn’t going to be elevated to a prime-time network or slot on that Saturday,” Goff said. “We couldn’t be more excited. I think it’s an incredible opportunity for our entire institution to demonstrate what it is, what’s special about the University of Kansas, what’s special about that environment for football on a Friday night in particular and the direction of this football program.
“So for us, in every evaluation, it’s a win.”
KU will head to Reno to play Nevada on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. Another national TV game is right around the corner, as the Jayhawks will face BYU on ESPN on Saturday, Sept. 23. Kickoff for that matchup is set for 2:30 p.m.
