On an otherwise downer college football weekend for the ESPN networks, ABC took down FOX “Big Noon Saturday” for the first time this season.
Last Saturday’s Pittsburgh-Penn State college football game averaged a 2.1 rating and 3.20 million viewers on ABC, marking the day’s highest rated and most-watched Noon ET game. Penn State’s win, which peaked at 4.2 million viewers from 3:45 PM ET through the conclusion, edged Ohio State-Indiana on FOX “Big Noon Saturday” (2.0, 3.05M).
The game was the first of the young season to top “Big Noon” head-to-head. The final nationals were a reversal from the metered market overnights, which saw FOX ahead of ABC, 2.4 to 2.3.
The timeslot win was a bright spot on a day when all three ABC games declined. Pittsburgh-Penn State was down only slightly from last year (Oklahoma State-Iowa State: 2.2, 3.35M) and 2017 (UCLA-Memphis: 2.2, 3.24M). Keep in mind it began a half-hour later than scheduled due to a weather delay.
Clemson-Syracuse (2.3, 3.62M) fell a steeper 45% in ratings and 50% in viewership from last year (Ohio State-TCU: 4.2, 7.23M) and 23% and 29% respectively from 2017 (Clemson-Louisville: 3.0, 5.06M). Rounding out the tripleheader, BYU-USC fell 11% (to 1.7) and 8% (to 2.67M) respectively.
The declines extended to ESPN, which saw three of its four games drop. The network drew a 1.7 and 3.14 million for Florida-Kentucky Saturday night, down 26% in ratings and 24% in viewership from Alabama-Mississippi last year (2.3, 4.11M), though up 13% and 26% respectively from 2017 (LSU-Mississippi State: 1.5, 2.50M).
It also posted declines of 8% and 9% for Kansas State-Mississippi State (1.1, 1.70M) and 28% and 33% for Stanford-UCF (0.6, 967K). Its late night Texas Tech-Arizona game bucked the downward trend with a 1.1 (+10%) and 1.73 million (+9%).
ESPN had better results Friday, drawing a 1.3 and 2.07 million for Washington State-Houston last Friday — its most-watched Friday game, outside of Black Friday, in two years. North Carolina-Wake Forest had a 0.9 (+76%) and 1.37 million (+73%) earlier in the night.
As for the other ESPN networks, ESPN2 topped out at a 0.6 and 951,000 (+106%) for Arkansas State-Georgia last Saturday afternoon. Figures were only available for one of last weekend’s ESPNU games — Lamar-Texas A&M had just 142,000.
A full list of this season’s college football ratings is available here.
