The Big Ten and SEC led the way once again during week six of the college football season.
The Ohio State/Northwestern “Saturday Night Football” game drew a 4.8 overnight rating on ABC, up 55% from Nebraska/Ohio State last year (3.1), and up 30% from Ohio State/Nebraska in 2011 (3.7). The 4.8 overnight is tied as the fifth-highest of the season for college football on any network.
Every week this season, the highest rated college football game in the metered markets has involved at least one Big Ten or SEC team.
ABC also had an increase earlier in the day, as regional action drew a 2.8 overnight — up 47% from last year (1.9), but down 10% from 2011 (3.1).
The other networks could not match last year’s numbers. The Georgia/Tennessee game on CBS earned a 3.6 overnight, down 23% from LSU/Florida last year (4.7), but up 9% from Florida/LSU in 2011 (3.3). Despite the decline, Georgia/Tennessee was the #2 game of the weekend.
CBS also drew a 1.0 overnight for Air Force/Navy, down 17% from the same matchup last year (1.2), and down 29% from the teams’ matchup in 2011 (1.4).
Over on NBC, the primetime Arizona State/Notre Dame game drew a 2.5 overnight — down 36% from the network’s fourth Notre Dame telecast last year, against Stanford (3.9), and down a tick from the fourth telecast in 2011, a primetime game against USC (2.6).
Meanwhile, FOX continued to struggle mightily with its college football coverage. The net’s TCU/Oklahoma game had a 1.3 overnight, down a whopping 59% from West Virginia/Texas last year (3.2), and tied as the network’s second-lowest overnight ever for a primetime college football game.
Saturday’s top game on cable was the late night Washington/Stanford game, which according to Sports Business Daily earned a 1.9 overnight.
(Sat. overnights from Sports Business Daily)
