The SEC and Big Ten were the big draws during the 2013 college football regular season.
The six highest rated and most-viewed games of the season were all SEC or Big Ten conference games, topped by the Missouri/Auburn SEC Championship Game on December 7 (8.6, 14.4M). Including out-of-conference games, an SEC or Big Ten team was involved in 14 of the top 16 telecasts.
The top game of the season to feature a team outside of the SEC or Big Ten was Notre Dame/Michigan on September 7 (5.3, 8.7M), and the top game to not involve any SEC or Big Ten teams was Miami/Florida State on November 2 (5.1, 8.4M).
On the other end of the spectrum, the least-viewed game of the season on the major networks was Temple/Memphis on ESPNEWS November 30, with just 13,000 viewers. Overall, at least 52 games drew a rating of 0.0 or 0.1 (full ratings were not available for ESPNEWS).
Television ratings for every game of the season are available here. The following section lists the top five games from each conference.
|
TOP RATED SEC CONFERENCE GAMES
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#
|
Rating | Viewers | Date | Away | Home | Net |
|
1
|
8.6
|
14.35M
|
Dec. 7 | Missouri | Auburn | CBS |
|
2
|
8.5
|
13.59M
|
Sep. 14 | Alabama | Texas A&M | CBS |
|
3
|
8.2
|
13.78M
|
Nov. 30 | Alabama | Auburn | CBS |
|
4
|
6.9
|
11.90M
|
Nov. 9 | LSU | Alabama | CBS |
|
5
|
4.7
|
7.51M
|
Nov. 23 | Texas A&M | LSU | CBS |
SEC conference games accounted for four of the five highest rated and most-viewed college football games this season, with each of the four topping the ten million viewer mark.
|
TOP RATED BIG TEN CONFERENCE GAMES
|
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#
|
Rating | Viewers | Date | Away | Home | Net | Regional |
|
1
|
7.9
|
13.90M
|
Dec. 7 | Michigan St. | Ohio St. | FOX | |
|
2
|
5.8
|
9.50M
|
Nov. 30 | Ohio St. | Michigan | ABC | |
|
3
|
4.4
|
7.36M
|
Oct. 5 | Ohio St. | Northwestern | ABC | |
|
4
|
4.0
|
6.75M
|
Sep. 28 | Wisconsin | Ohio St. | ABC | |
|
5
|
3.4
|
5.34M
|
Oct. 19 | Iowa | Ohio St. | ABC-R* | or UCLA/STAN |
The Big Ten Championship Game was the only non-SEC telecast of the season to rank among the top five. Ohio State/Michigan two weeks earlier finished as the #6 game of the season.
|
TOP RATED ACC CONFERENCE GAMES
|
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#
|
Rating | Viewers | Date | Away | Home | Net | Regional |
|
1
|
5.1
|
8.35M
|
Nov. 2 | Miami | Florida St. | ABC | |
|
2
|
3.4
|
5.68M
|
Dec. 7 | Florida St. | Clemson | ABC | |
|
3
|
3.4
|
5.66M
|
Oct. 19 | Duke | Florida St. | ABC | |
|
4
|
2.9
|
4.47M
|
Sep. 2 | Florida St. | Pittsburgh | ESPN | |
|
5
|
2.9
|
4.42M
|
Oct. 5 | Clemson | Syracuse | ABC-R* | or KST/OKST |
Miami/Florida State ranked among the ten highest rated and most-viewed college football telecasts of the season, the only top ten game that did not involve an SEC or Big Ten team.
|
TOP RATED BIG 12 CONFERENCE GAMES
|
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#
|
Rating | Viewers | Date | Away | Home | Net | Regional |
|
1
|
4.7
|
7.28M
|
Dec. 7 | Oklahoma | Oklahoma St. | ABC | |
|
2
|
4.0
|
6.62M
|
Nov. 23 | Baylor | Oklahoma St. | ABC | |
|
3
|
3.5
|
5.73M
|
Sep. 21 | Kansas St. | Texas | ABC-R* | or MICH/CONN |
|
4
|
3.0
|
4.71M
|
Oct. 12 | Oklahoma | Texas | ABC | |
|
5
|
2.9
|
4.42M
|
Oct. 5 | Kansas St. | Oklahoma St. | ABC-R* | or CLEM/SYR |
‘Bedlam’ was the top game of the Big 12 conference schedule, albeit against very weak competition.
|
TOP RATED PAC-12 CONFERENCE GAMES
|
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#
|
Rating | Viewers | Date | Away | Home | Net | Regional |
|
1
|
3.6
|
5.73M
|
Nov. 7 | Oregon | Stanford | ESPN | |
|
2
|
3.4
|
5.34M
|
Oct. 19 | UCLA | Stanford | ABC-R* | or IOWA/OSU |
|
3
|
3.2
|
5.01M
|
Nov. 16 | Stanford | USC | ABC | |
|
4
|
2.7
|
4.03M
|
Nov. 23 | Oregon | Arizona | ABC-R* | or IND/OSU |
|
5
|
2.3
|
3.67M
|
Oct. 26 | UCLA | Oregon | ESPN | |
The season’s top Pac-12 conference game was the Thursday night clash between Oregon and Stanford in November. The game earned the largest audience for a Thursday night CFB telecast in over two years.
|
TOP RATED AAC CONFERENCE GAMES
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#
|
Rating | Viewers | Date | Away | Home | Net |
|
1
|
1.5
|
2.22M
|
Oct. 18 | UCF | Louisville | ESPN |
|
2
|
1.2
|
1.66M
|
Oct. 10 | Rutgers | Louisville | ESPN |
|
3
|
1.1
|
1.57M
|
Dec. 5 | Louisville | Cincinnati | ESPN |
|
4
|
0.9
|
1.44M
|
Dec. 7 | UCF | SMU | ESPN |
|
5
|
0.8
|
1.13M
|
Oct. 31 | USF | Houston | ESPN |
The American Athletic Conference was, unsurprisingly, not much of a draw in its first year. Louisville’s upset loss to eventual conference champion UCF was the highest rated and most-viewed conference game of the season.
|
TOP RATED OUT-OF-CONFERENCE GAMES
|
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#
|
Rating | Viewers | Date | Away | Home | Net | Regional |
|
1
|
5.3
|
8.65M
|
Sep. 7 | Notre Dame | Michigan | ESPN | |
|
2
|
4.8
|
8.14M
|
Aug. 31 | Georgia | Clemson | ABC | |
|
3
|
3.9
|
6.22M
|
Dec. 14 | Army | Navy | CBS | |
|
4
|
3.5
|
5.73M
|
Sep. 21 | Michigan | Connecticut | ABC-R* | or KST/TEX |
|
5
|
3.2
|
4.79M
|
Sep. 21 | Michigan St. | Notre Dame | NBC | |
It should be no surprise that Notre Dame topped the non-conference slate. Other big draws included the Georgia/Clemson “Saturday Night Football” opener and the Army/Navy game.
