Ratings tanked for the Alabama-LSU rivalry, while a last minute matchup of BYU and Coastal Carolina boosted ESPNU to a five-year high.
Saturday’s Alabama-Louisiana State college football game averaged a 2.3 rating and 4.22 million viewers on CBS, marking the lowest rated game between the rivals since 2006 (2.0). Ratings fell 76% and viewership 75% from their #1 vs. #2 meeting last season, which aired in the afternoon (9.7, 16.64M), and 65% and 63% from their previous primetime matchup in 2018 (6.6, 11.54M).
The sharp declines come with a pair of obvious caveats. Not only did the game take place nearly a month after it was originally scheduled, but unranked LSU entered a 23-point underdog — and lost by 38.
The previous week’s Auburn-Alabama Iron Bowl was also down significantly, falling more than 40 percent (albeit to a considerably-higher 3.6 and 6.66 million).
Alabama-LSU still delivered the largest college football audience of the weekend, though that speaks more to a slow week than anything else.
CBS also averaged a 2.0 and 3.42 million for Florida-Tennessee earlier in the day, up 25% and 39% respectively from their September meeting last season, which aired on ESPN (1.6, 2.46M). It was the most-watched game between the rivals since their previous CBS meeting in 2017 (3.2, 5.13M).
In other action, ABC averaged a 2.5 and 4.11 million for Ohio State-Michigan State, down 36% in ratings and 39% in viewership from their October meeting last season, which aired on the same network in the same window (3.9, 6.68M). It was the highest rated game of the weekend and the second-most watched. ABC also pulled a 2.3 and 3.82 million for Indiana-Wisconsin and a 1.9 and 3.38 million for Clemson-Virginia Tech.
Over on NBC, Notre Dame’s season finale against Syracuse averaged a 1.7 and 2.84 million — up 55% in ratings and 72% in viewership from the team’s final home game last season, a November matchup against Boston College (1.1, 1.66M). Rounding out the broadcast networks, FOX topped out at a 1.1 and 1.83 million for Baylor-Oklahoma.
Shifting to cable, ESPNU averaged 1.21 million for the last-minute matchup of unbeatens between BYU and Coastal Carolina — the network’s largest college football audience since 2015 (WKU-LSU: 1.25M). The Chanticleers’ win ranked third among ESPN games over the weekend, behind Texas A&M-Auburn (2.80M) and West Virginia-Iowa State (1.22M) on the ESPN flagship.
BYU-Coastal Carolina still averaged fewer viewers than ESPN’s College Gameday, which originated from the site of the game and averaged 1.39 million.
In other Group of 5 action, Louisiana-Appalachian State cracked the million viewer mark last Friday (1.01M).
Finally, a rare Sunday night game between Washington State and USC averaged 405,000 on FS1 — well ahead of the previous Sunday Pac-12 game this season, Cal-UCLA in a Noon ET window on November 15 (234K).
