The SEC was college football’s top television draw of the weekend on both broadcast and cable.
Auburn’s upset win over Texas A&M drew a 4.2 final rating and 6.7 million viewers on CBS Saturday afternoon, up 36% in ratings and 37% in viewership from Florida/South Carolina last year (3.1, 4.9M), and up 17% and 20%, respectively, from Auburn/LSU in 2011 (3.6, 5.6M).
The game was the top college football telecast of the weekend. An SEC game has topped the charts in five of eight weeks this season.
Tying for second-place last week were two games on ABC. The Florida State/Clemson “Saturday Night Football” blowout drew a 3.4 final rating and 5.7 million viewers, up 10% in ratings and 17% in viewership from regional action last year (3.1, 4.8M), while regional coverage of UCLA/Stanford or Iowa/Ohio State earned a 3.4 and 5.3 million earlier in the day — up 31% and 33%, respectively, from last year (2.6, 4.0M).
Rounding out the top five, Tennessee/South Carolina topped all cable games with a 2.3 and 3.4 million on ESPN, and NBC’s primetime USC/Notre Dame game scored a 2.2 and 3.5 million. Of note, Tennessee’s upset win had a higher rating and more viewers than Vanderbilt’s upset of Georgia on CBS at the same time (1.5, 2.4M).
As has been the case the past five weeks, FOX brought up the rear on broadcast with a mere 0.9 and 1.2 million viewers for the Noon ET TCU/Oklahoma State game. The game ranks as the least-viewed of the season on FOX, dipping below the previous mark of 1.4 million for Baylor/Kansas State the previous week.
The FOX game barely edged the day’s top telecast on Fox Sports 1 — the 10 PM ET Washington State/Oregon game (1.135M). FS1 managed to top competing coverage on ESPN2 — Oregon State/Cal (946K) — head-to-head.
(Last week’s numbers from Nielsen, Bloomberg/TV By the Numbers, The Futon Critic)
