It was not much of a game, but Alabama-LSU still delivered a season-high in the overnight ratings.
Alabama-LSU earned a 6.7 overnight rating on Saturday’s primetime edition of the SEC on CBS, up 81% from last year (3.7) and up 12% from 2016 (6.0), both of which featured the same matchup. The 6.7 is the highest for the rivalry, which has aired on CBS in primetime for eight straight years, since 2013 (6.9).
The Tide’s 29-0 rout, which peaked at an 8.0 from 9-9:30 PM ET, delivered the highest college football overnight of the season. The previous high was a 6.1 for Ohio State-Penn State on ABC in September.
Overnights for the competing games — Oklahoma-Texas Tech on ABC and Notre Dame-Northwestern on ESPN — were not immediately available.
On a weekend where the biggest games were on CBS or ESPN, FOX took second and third-place. The network earned a 3.2 overnight for Nebraska-Ohio State, up 39% from last year (Penn State-Michigan State: 2.3) and the second-highest overnight of week ten.
It also scored a 3.0 for West Virginia-Texas, ranking third for the weekend. Figures for last year’s comparable Stanford-Washington State game, which was mostly preempted, were not available.
The Mountaineers’ win topped a crowded mid-afternoon timeslot that also included Georgia-Kentucky on CBS (2.8, +27%) and Penn State-Michigan on ESPN. Figures for the latter telecast were not immediately available.
[Numbers from CBS Sports PR, Fox Sports PR/Twitter 11.4]
