Television ratings went in opposite directions for a pair of college football upsets on ESPN last weekend.
ECU’s upset victory over Virginia Tech last Saturday drew a 1.7 U.S. rating and 2.6 million viewers on ESPN, up 13% in ratings and 12% in viewership from Louisville/Kentucky last year (1.5, 2.3M), and the top game of the week on cable.
The game marked the second time in as many weeks that Virginia Tech played in ESPN’s top college football telecast.
Later in the day, Boston College’s upset of USC drew a 1.1 and 1.7 million viewers — down a tick in ratings and 7% in viewership from Vanderbilt/South Carolina in an earlier timeslot last year (1.2, 1.9M). The game was topped head-to-head by competing coverage on ABC (2.2, 3.8M), NBC (1.9, 3.1M) and FOX (1.6, 2.6M).
The Southern Miss/Alabama game on ESPN2, which aired earlier Saturday evening, drew the same rating and a slightly larger audience (1.78M to 1.75M).
In other action on ESPN last weekend, the Iowa State/Iowa game drew a 1.0 and 1.7 million viewers — up 43% in ratings and 55% in viewership from Nevada/Florida State last year (0.7, 1.1M). Baylor/Buffalo last Friday drew a 0.9 and 1.3 million, down 31% and 36%, respectively, from last year’s Air Force/Boise State game (1.3, 2.0M).
Finally, the week three Thursday night game between Houston and BYU drew a 0.6 and 1.0 million — down 57% in ratings and 54% in viewership from TCU/Texas Tech last year (1.4, 2.3M). The debut of Thursday Night Football on CBS likely impacted the numbers.
(Last week’s numbers from Awful Announcing)
