The numbers were nowhere close to Michigan/Ohio State, but ABC’s four other games over the holiday weekend put up solid numbers.
Florida/Florida State earned a 3.9 overnight rating on the latest edition of ABC’s Saturday Night Football, up 50% from Oklahoma/Oklahoma State last year, which did not include data from the Oklahoma City market (2.6) and up 77% from Oregon/Oregon State in 2014 (2.2).
Compared to previous editions of the Florida/FSU rivalry, Saturday’s overnight topped last year (2.65) but trailed 2014 (4.1), both of which aired on ESPN. For the weekend, it ranked third among all college football games behind Ohio State/Michigan on ABC (10.4) and Auburn/Alabama on CBS (4.7).
Earlier in the day, Notre Dame/USC had a 3.7 overnight — up 12% from regional action featuring USC/UCLA last year (3.3) and up 61% from another regional window in 2014 (2.3). The 3.7 is the highest for the Notre Dame/USC rivalry in four years, since then-#1 Notre Dame clinched an appearance in the BCS title game back in 2012 (10.0).
As previously reported, Michigan/Ohio State had a 10.4 overnight.
Shifting to Friday, ABC scored a 2.1 overnight for Houston/Memphis — the same as Navy/Houston last year but down a tick from Nebraska/Iowa in 2014 (2.2). This year’s Nebraska/Iowa game had a 2.2, down 37% from the same matchup last year (3.5) and down a tick from Stanford/UCLA in ’14 (2.3).
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily 11/28)
