The hype for last Saturday’s meeting of No. 1 Auburn at No. 2 Alabama was more than a local phenomenon.

The TV audience for the midafternoon game on ESPN was the most-watched ESPN game of the season, the network told AL.com. Viewership averaged 2.8 million, according to ESPN, with the peak audience hitting 3.5 million.

That audience was the second-highest of any network this season, the network said. It was also the highest-rated game for any SEC contest in the ESPN portfolio since the 2018-19 season.

The top-ranked Tigers never trailed in a 94-85 win in a packed Coleman Coliseum. It was the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 game in SEC history.

For context, the highest-rated game of the previous week was Duke at Clemson with 2.1 million viewers, according to the TV Media Blog on Substack. That same night, Alabama’s win at Arkansas drew the second most viewers with 1.48 million.

For more context, the Alabama-Auburn football game last season drew 7.16 million viewers on ABC. That was the 31st-largest TV audience of the college football season, according to the list compiled by Footballscoop.com.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.