A rare marquee Friday night game delivered the weekend’s best college football numbers on cable.
Last Friday’s Stanford/Washington college football game scored a 2.0 final rating and 3.3 million viewers on ESPN, marking the network’s largest college football audience on the night since Boise State/Michigan State in 2012 (4.2M). In ratings, it ranks second over that four-year span behind Florida State/Boston College last year (2.1). There was no comparable game last year.
With streaming viewership included, the Huskies’ blowout win had 3.4 million viewers — ESPN’s second-largest college football audience on a Friday night dating back to 1990. Regardless of night, it was the highest rated and most-watched game of the week on cable, and the top game on ESPN or ESPN2 this season that did not involve an SEC team.
Shifting to Saturday, Kentucky/Alabama had a 1.9 and 3.2 million on ESPN Saturday night — down 10% in ratings and 15% in viewership from Mississippi/LSU last year (2.1, 3.7M) and flat and down 6%, respectively, from Missouri/South Carolina in 2014 (1.9, 3.4M). The Arizona/UCLA nightcap scored a 0.7 (-50%) and 1.0 million (-54%).
In the afternoon, Notre Dame/Syracuse had a 1.4 and 2.1 million — down 18% in ratings and 20% in viewership from Iowa/Wisconsin last year (1.7, 2.6M) and down 55% in both measures from Tennessee/Georgia in ’14 (3.1, 4.7M). North Carolina’s upset of FSU was an exception to the declines, with a 1.1 (+38%) and 1.7 million (+37%).
Over on ESPN2, the week’s top game was Illinois/Nebraska with a 0.7 and 1.1 million. Last year’s comparable telecast was a reverse mirror of ABC’s regional window (0.6, 931K). Topping the charts on ESPNU was Kansas State/West Virginia with 545,000 viewers, up 41% from North Carolina/Georgia Tech last year (386K) and up 76% from Wake Forest/Louisville in ’14 (309K).
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 10/4)
