Despite Alabama’s unfortunate fate in the Rose Bowl, millions of people tuned in to watch the widely talked about matchup.

The Alabama Crimson Tide’s season came to an ugly finish in Pasadena on New Year’s Day, being defeated by Indiana 38-3 in what was the most lopsided bowl defeat in program history.

The Hoosiers clearly proved that they are the best team in the country, and it looks like a ton of people were able to witness it.

ESPN and ABC released television ratings following the second round of the College Football Playoff. The Rose Bowl was not only the highest rated game of the week, but the highest-rated playoff game since the 12-team expansion.

A staggering average viewership of 23.9 million people — peaking at 25.6 million — tuned in to watch the game.

That number means this game was viewed more than 18 of the last 22 semifinal matchups in the College Football Playoff and outpaced the ratings of other sporting events.

In terms of overall numbers, the quarterfinal round’s viewership was up 14 percent from a year ago. The standalone Wednesday night game between Ohio State and Miami averaged 19 million viewers and the Ole Miss vs Georgia game averaged 18.7 million.

Even the early game between Texas Tech and Oregon reached an average of nearly 16 million viewers and peaked at 19 million.

For all the issues the sport seems to be having during this chaotic season, people are still tuning in at a higher rate than ever — and likely will continue to do so.