The college football season may be months away, but rematches of last season’s two highest-rated regular season games have already been slotted for national TV.
The September 12 rematch between USC and Ohio State will air in prime time, but not on ABC. Because ABC will be televising a NASCAR race that night, ESPN will air the big game. With ESPN grabbing the rights to the BCS, this may be the start of a trend of ESPN airing more of the marquee regular season games than corporate sibling ABC.
Last year’s Ohio State/USC tilt drew a 7.0/13 rating on ABC.
The very next week, ABC will air a rematch of last season’s highest rated game on the network. Texas Tech/Texas has been moved up from its original November 7 date to September 19, and will air at 8 PM on ABC, as part of the network’s Saturday Night Football package.
Last year’s Texas/Texas Tech game also aired on ABC in prime time, and drew a 7.5 rating.
