With both teams unranked and a lopsided result, the Notre Dame/USC rivalry was a minuscule draw.
Last Saturday’s Notre Dame/USC college football game drew a 1.3 final rating and 2.0 million viewers on FOX, marking the lowest rated edition of the rivalry since at least 1996 and the least-viewed since at least 2001. The Trojans’ blowout win marked only the second time since ’96 that the game has failed to earn at least 2.0 rating.
As recently as two years ago, the rivals generated a 9.4 rating and 16.1 million viewers on ABC.
Head-to-head, Notre Dame/USC was crushed by Florida/Florida State on ESPN (3.5, 6.0M) and regional action on ABC (2.4, 4.0M). Final numbers were not immediately available for the Mississippi State/Mississippi Egg Bowl on CBS, which also aired in the mid-afternoon timeslot.
In other college football action on FOX last week, the Friday afternoon Arizona State/Arizona game drew a 1.3 and 2.1 million viewers — up 18% in ratings and 23% in viewership from Washington State/Washington last year (1.1, 1.7M) and up 8% and 5%, from Washington/Washington State in 2012 (1.2, 2.0M).
Fox Sports 1 drew a 0.4 and 781,000 for this year’s Washington/Washington State game, the network’s top Saturday telecast. Kansas/Kansas State drew a 0.2 and 274,000 earlier in the day, flat in ratings and down 41% in viewership from Iowa State/West Virginia last year (0.2, 464K). Finally, the Noon ET West Virginia/Iowa State game drew a 0.2 and 489,000 — flat in ratings and up 34% in viewership from Kansas State/Kansas last year (0.2, 366K).
TCU/Texas was the top game of the weekend on FS1, with a 0.7 and 1.3 million viewers.
(Wknd. numbers from Sports Business Daily, Awful Announcing)
