Of the college football games on broadcast television over the holiday weekend, the only game to see an increase in ratings from last year was possibly the ugliest one of all.
With the exception of Florida/Florida State, every college football game on broadcast over Thanksgiving weekend was either flat or down in ratings when compared to last year. On Friday, ABC drew a 2.7 overnight rating for West Virginia/Pittsburgh, off 16% from a 3.2 for last year’s comparable Nebraska/Colorado game. This year’s Colorado/Nebraska game drew a 2.9 overnight, off 9% from a 3.2 for Texas/Texas A&M in the same timeslot in ’07.
Also on Friday, CBS drew a 2.5/8 overnight rating for LSU/Arkansas, down a whopping 51% from a 5.1 for the same matchup in ’07, when then-#1 LSU was upset in overtime.
Saturday, ABC drew a 4.0 rating for coverage of a miserable Florida/Florida State game, up 14% from a 3.5 for comparable action on Thanksgiving weekend last year. Saturday Night Football, a tightly contested match-up between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, drew a 6.2 overnight, off 11% from a 7.0 Missouri/Kansas on Thanksgiving weekend in ’07. The 6.2 overnight is the sixth-highest of the season for a college football game.
On CBS, Georgia Tech’s upset victory over Georgia drew a solid 3.5/9 overnight rating, down 5% from a 3.7 for Tennessee/Kentucky last year, which aired in a later timeslot and went to four overtimes. The second game of the CBS doubleheader, Auburn/Alabama, drew a 4.2/9 overnight, even with Florida State/Florida in a later timeslot in ’07.
Overall, seven college football games on broadcast over the weekend averaged a 3.7 overnight across ABC and CBS, down 12% from a 4.2 for comparable coverage on Thanksgiving weekend a year ago.
Overnights for college football games over Thanksgiving weekend.
broadcast only; compared to Thanksgiving weekend in 2007, which occurred a week earlier than this year.
2.7: West Virginia/Pittsburgh (Fri., 11/28, 12 PM ABC); down 16% from ’07.
2.5: LSU/Arkansas (Fri., 11/28, 2:30 PM CBS); down 51% from ’07.
2.9: Colorado/Nebraska (Fri., 11/28, 3:30 PM ABC); down 9% from ’07.
3.5: Georgia Tech/Georgia (Sat., 11/29, 12 PM CBS); down 5% from ’07.
4.2: Auburn/Alabama (Sat., 11/29, 3:30 PM CBS); even with ’07.
4.0: Florida/Florida State (Sat., 11/29, 3:30 PM ABC); up 14% from ’07.
6.2: Oklahoma/Oklahoma State (Sat., 11/29, 8 PM ABC); down 11% from ’07.
