FOX topped the college football ratings charts for the first time this season as the Red River Rivalry hit a seven-year high in the metered markets.
Saturday’s Texas-Oklahoma college football game scored a 4.3 overnight rating on FOX, up 115% from Iowa State-Oklahoma in the same window last year (2.0), and the network’s third-highest college football overnight ever, excluding bowls and conference championship games.
The Longhorns’ win trails Ohio State-Michigan (6.7) and Penn State-Ohio State (6.4) last year and Notre Dame-Stanford in 2015 (4.7).
Compared to previous editions of the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry, this year’s game increased 79% from last year on ESPN (2.4), 115% from 2016 on FS1 (2.0), and 13% from 2015 on ABC — the last time it aired on broadcast television (3.8). The 4.3 is the highest for the rivalry since 2011 (4.5).
The Longhorns’ narrow win was the top college football game of the weekend. Since it began airing regular season games in 2012, FOX has topped the charts just five times.
Ranking second for the weekend, LSU-Florida on CBS and Notre Dame-Virginia Tech on ABC both scored a 3.1 overnight. LSU-Florida increased 19% from the same matchup last year (2.6) but declined 23% from 2016 (Tennessee-Texas A&M: 4.0).
Notre Dame-Virginia Tech fell 21% from Michigan State-Michigan last year (3.9) and a tick from FSU-Miami in ’16 (3.2).
Rounding out the top five, FOX scored a 2.9 overnight for Indiana-Ohio State (+38%). The game, which aired immediately after Texas-Oklahoma, earned the network’s second-best overnight of the season. FSU-Miami chipped in a 2.2 on ABC, up 29% from last year (Notre Dame-UNC: 1.7). Versus last year’s meeting between the rivals, which aired in the comparable window last year, but on ESPN, overnights increased 10% (from 2.0).
Washington-UCLA brought up the rear on broadcast with a 1.6, but that was still up 14% (Washington State-Oregon: 1.4). On cable, no game exceeded the 1.4 overnight ESPN drew for both Alabama-Arkansas (+8%) and Kentucky-Texas A&M (-48%).
[Numbers from Fox Sports PR 10.7, Sports Business Daily 10.8]
