Also, "status" tends to lag actual success in the same way attendance does. In other words, we had worse attendance, TV spots, ratings, etc. in 2019-20 (when we were top 20) than last year (when we were a rather frustrating #7 seed). With that in mind, here is just another visual of the great job Brand and Co. have done in elevating the program back to a brand level we all enjoyed so much during the early and mid-2000s! For context below, I am defining "major network" as one of CBS, FOX, ESPN, etc .... pretty much not BTN, FS1, Peacock, SECN, etc. Also, regular season only so it's apples to apples with this year.
Games on Major Network by Season
9 in 2025-26
9 in 2024-25
5 in 2023-24
10 in 2022-23
7 in 2021-22
7 in 2020-21 (shorter season)
2 in 2019-20
It's not a SUPER helpful visual and has some obvious problems ... such as ESPN was an option for Big Ten regular season home games until the 2023-24 season (causing a dip starting in 2023-24) and it just sort of depends on the schedule that year.
However, if you take into account that we are only ever on ESPN anymore if we are playing on the road vs. an SEC/ACC team and that it's up to FOX or CBS to pick up our games now ... there has been a very clear improvement in the "stage" our program is on since Underwood got here.