Ratings and viewership actually declined, but Ohio State-Penn State nonetheless delivered one of the top audiences of the college football season.
Ohio State-Penn State averaged a 4.5 rating and 8.27 million viewers on FOX “Big Noon Saturday” over the weekend, down double-digits from Michigan-Michigan State in the same window last year (5.1, ~9.3M) but the fourth-largest audience of the season — behind only Alabama-Tennessee on CBS two weeks earlier (6.1, 11.56M), Alabama-Texas on FOX in week two (5.7, 10.60M) and Notre Dame-Ohio State on ABC in week one (5.2, 10.53M).
The Buckeyes’ win did outpace the same matchup between the teams last season, which aired on ABC (3.7, ~7.1M).
As goes without saying, Ohio State-Penn State was the top game of the week on any network. Ranking a distant second, Florida-Georgia averaged a 3.0 and 5.62 million on the SEC on CBS — the least-watched game between the teams in five years (2017: 2.0, 3.38M).
ABC’s Michigan State-Michigan game ranked third with a 2.8 and 5.58 million, down double-digits from last year’s previously mentioned Ohio State-Penn State game, but the network’s largest college football audience since week one. The game aired directly opposite the week’s fourth-place game, Kentucky-Tennessee at a 2.1 and 4.04 million on ESPN — up sharply from Mississippi-Auburn a year ago (1.4, ~2.5M).
Rounding out the top five, FOX drew a 1.9 and 3.38 million for Oklahoma State-Kansas State Saturday afternoon, up double figures from Colorado-Oregon last year (1.6, ~2.7M).
Returning to ABC, the network scored a 1.4 and 2.49 million for Illinois-Nebraska and a 1.4 and 2.34 million for Notre Dame-Syracuse in its afternoon windows — on par with last year’s equivalent games.
The full list of week nine college football ratings is below. The full season of charts is available on the following page.
Week 9 college football ratings
(Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 11.1, network PR)
