For the third time in five CBS appearances, Alabama turned a potentially intriguing matchup into a rout.
The Alabama/Mississippi State college football game drew a 3.5 overnight rating on CBS Saturday afternoon, down 22% from Texas A&M/Auburn last year (4.5) but up 13% from Mississippi State/Texas A&M in 2013 (3.1), both of which were the first game of a day-night doubleheader.
Alabama’s 26-point win marked their third blowout on CBS this season, with each of the three against Top 25 competition. While the ratings have not been poor, blowouts of Georgia in week five and Texas A&M in week seven could not win their own timeslot — and Saturday’s game only barely edged ABC’s competing regional window (3.4).
Overall, the 3.5 overnight was the second-highest for college football over the weekend — trailing only a 4.2 for ABC’s primetime Oklahoma/Baylor game. The SEC on CBS has failed to top the charts in eight of 11 weeks this season, after doing so nine times in 13 tries last year.
Earlier in the day, Georgia/Auburn drew a 2.0 overnight — down a tick from the network’s only Noon ET SEC game last season, Georgia/Missouri in week eight (2.1).
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily)
