Unlike 2011, there will be no horsetrading to get the potential #1 vs. #2 Alabama-LSU game in primetime.
CBS will air the November 9 Alabama-LSU college football game in its traditional 3:30 PM ET window, the network announced Monday. Alabama is currently #1 and LSU #2. CBS, which is limited to one primetime game per year in its contract with the SEC, used that selection on Notre Dame-Georgia last month.
The last time Alabama and LSU met as the nation’s top two teams, 2011, CBS was in a similar situation. The network had already used its primetime selection on Alabama-Florida and had to engage in a trade with ESPN to air LSU-Alabama in primetime.
The agreement paid off as the game averaged a whopping 11.5 rating and 20.01 million viewers. Those figures are still the best for any regular season college football game since 2006.
There had been scuttlebutt that a similar agreement would be worked out this year. In particular, CBS’ decision to pass on Florida-LSU two weeks ago (which ended up being a top ten game) was rumored to be a possible olive branch to ESPN. Evidently not.
No trade would have been necessary in prior years. Until this season, CBS had used its primetime selection on LSU-Alabama every year since 2011.
[News from CBS Sports]
