A blockbuster matchup, at least on paper, gave CBS its top college football overnight of the season.
The Alabama/Georgia college football game drew a 4.2 overnight rating on CBS Saturday afternoon, up 50% from Arkansas/Texas A&M last year (2.8) but down 14% from Georgia/LSU in 2013 (4.9). The 4.2 is the highest of the season on CBS (five telecasts), easily topping the previous high of 3.2 for Tennessee/Florida the week before.
Despite the season-high, the Crimson Tide’s blowout win could not even win its timeslot. It was topped head-to-head by ABC’s regional window, which featured Ohio State/Indiana (4.5), and also trailed the network’s Notre Dame/Clemson Saturday Night Football game (4.8).
The SEC on CBS has failed to top the charts in four of five weeks this season, compared to four times in 13 weeks last year.
The 4.2 overnight is the lowest of the season for an Alabama telecast, trailing the Mississippi game on ESPN two weeks earlier (4.6) and the opener against Wisconsin on ABC (4.3). The other two games, against Middle Tennessee and Louisiana-Monroe, aired on SEC Network — which is not Nielsen rated. For the season, it is the seventh-highest overnight of the season on any network.
(Sat. numbers from twitter.com/cbssportsgang)
