Penn State football’s week 11 loss to Minnesota was the most-watched noon kickoff on ABC in three seasons, according to a release from ESPN.

Approximately 6,736,000 viewers tuned into the Gophers’ 31-26 victory over James Franklin’s program, which is the highest total since Ohio State and Michigan’s top-five meeting drew more than 17 million viewers to ABC’s noon time-slot in 2016.

The game’s audience peaked at 8,749,000 viewers in the fourth quarter as Penn State made a late comeback bid at TCF Bank Stadium. The overall audience of Saturday’s contest is the ninth-highest of the season among all networks so far this season.

Minneapolis was, understandably, the top local market for the game with a 19.5 rating. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia were the second- and fourth-highest rated local markets with ratings of 12.8 and 8.7, respectively. Columbus’ rating of 9.2 was the third-highest in the country for the game.

Last weekend’s game topped Penn State’s White Out victory over Michigan, which was the most-watched game on ESPN’s family of networks during week eight. An average of 6,658,000 viewers tuned into the Nittany Lions’ 28-21 triumph at Beaver Stadium.

Saturday’s game was the latest in what’s been a strong game for ABC’s noon time-slot. The network’s noon-kickoff ratings are up 12% on a year-to-year basis, and ESPN’s game coverage is up 8% year-to-year so far this season.