I checked Sports Media Watch because I was curious what rates better between these scenarios
The Cure Bowl had a 1.2 rating with 1.95m watch
The first round game of Akron vs Creighton had a .43 rating and a 794K watch
So I thought about the qualifiers- the biggest in my mind being that the cure bowl was on a saturday. But the first round tournament games are always Thursday or Friday
Another argument might be that the Akron game was played at 130 or whatever. But that isnt unusual - i am sure the Miami first round games since I have been following in 2007-1999-1997- 1995-1993 were all during the day
Another argument might be that there are 3 other NCAA games going on at the same time but this year I believe the Cure Bowl was vs the NFL
Conclusion is that it appears MAC bowl games have more viewers than MAC NCAA first round games