With last year’s game featuring an undefeated defending champion, it is no surprise that this year’s ACC Championship slipped in the overnights.
The Clemson/North Carolina ACC Championship Game drew a 4.6 overnight rating on ABC Saturday night, down a third from Florida State/Georgia Tech last year (6.9) but up 21% from FSU/Duke in 2013 (3.8). The 4.6 is the third-highest in the ten-year history of the game, trailing only last year and the inaugural 2005 matchup between FSU and Virginia Tech (5.6).
The Tigers’ win drew the third-highest overnight of the season for ABC’s Saturday Night Football, trailing only Oregon/Michigan State in week two (5.0) and Notre Dame/Clemson in week five (4.8). Regardless of timeslot, it earned the network’s sixth-highest overnight.
For the week, it trailed both the SEC Championship on CBS (8.3) and the concurrent Big Ten Championship on FOX (5.9). Saturday marked just the fourth time in 14 weeks this season that neither ESPN nor ABC earned the top college football overnight of the week.
Earlier in the day, the inaugural American Athletic Championship between Houston and Temple drew a 2.0 overnight — down a third from Iowa State/TCU last year (3.0) and down 62% from Oklahoma/Oklahoma State in 2013 (5.2).
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily)
