The December 12 Division I Football Championship Subdivision semifinal between Appalachian State and Montana broadcast on ESPN drew a 1.87 cable rating – the highest ever for an FCS TV game.

Montana won a 24-17 decision over Appalachian State in a game that wasn’t decided until a Mountaineer pass to the end zone on a fourth-down play with one second remaining fell incomplete.  

The game, the second half of which was played in a driving snowstorm, was viewed in an estimated 1.85 million households. ESPN is distributed in about 100 million households nationwide.

The 1991 final between Youngstown State and Marshall was seen in an estimated 1.84 million households, but that game was televised on CBS, which is distributed in more than 114 million homes around the nation.

The previous most highly rated cable broadcast in FCS history occurred in the 1988 championship game between Furman and Georgia Southern. That game drew a 1.80 cable rating.

Montana, now 14-0, takes on Villanova, 13-1, in the FCS final Friday at 8 p.m. ET. ESPN2 will broadcast the game live from Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee.