Colorado-Oregon and Ohio State-Notre Dame dominated a busy college football Saturday, but FSU-Clemson got the ball rolling with a strong performance of its own.
Saturday’s Florida State-Clemson college football game averaged a 3.7 rating and 6.71 million viewers on ABC, marking the network’s largest Noon ET college football audience since Penn State-Minnesota in 2019 (6.74M) and second-most watched since 2016. Ratings and viewership tripled Clemson-Wake Forest last year (1.9, 3.18M).
The Seminoles’ win delivered the eighth-largest audience of the season overall, with three of the top ten coming on Saturday alone. Its lead-out, Colorado-Oregon, averaged the largest Nielsen-measured audience of the season at north of ten million viewers. (For the full list of college football ratings this season, see this page.)
Fueled by the strong afternoon performances, ABC averaged 6.5 million viewers for its Saturday tripleheader — trailing only week one of last season as its most-watched college football Saturday since 2017. Texas-Baylor on Saturday Night Football brought up the rear with a 1.4 and 2.63 million.
In other action, Mississippi-Alabama averaged a 2.6 and 4.61 million on the latest edition of the SEC on CBS — down 14% in ratings and 17% in viewership from Florida-Tennessee last year (3.0, 5.57M). The game faced unusually tough competition from Colorado-Oregon.
The SEC was still a far stronger draw for CBS Saturday than the Big Ten, as Iowa-Penn State drew a 1.5 and 2.75 million in primetime. That game also faced unusually tough competition, airing opposite Ohio State-Notre Dame on NBC (5.1, 9.98M).
With Ohio State-Notre Dame occupying primetime, NBC’s usual Big Ten game aired in the afternoon. Maryland-Michigan State drew a 0.7 and 1.24 million, down from Syracuse-Purdue in primetime the prior week (0.8, 1.25M). For the second time in three weeks, NBC’s Big Ten game was outdrawn by a matchup on Big Ten Network — albeit not head-to-head. Rutgers-Michigan drew a season-high 1.0 and 1.94 million on BTN earlier in the day.
FOX had a quiet college football weekend, topping out at a 1.4 and 2.63 million for its late night USC-Arizona State game. There was no comparable window last year.
The network saw steep declines for its other games, with Oregon State-Washington State down 60% in ratings (to 0.8) and 56% in viewership (to 1.48M); UCLA-Utah down 47% (to 0.7) and 42% (to 1.32M); and Oklahoma-Cincinnati down 49% (to 1.3) and 50% (to 2.17M). Last year’s equivalent windows were Kansas State-Oklahoma, Oregon-Washington State and Maryland-Michigan, respectively.
Over on ESPN, Arkansas-LSU was the weekend’s top game with a 1.3 and 2.44 million — down 28% in ratings and 30% in viewership from Arkansas-Texas A&M last year (1.8, 3.50M). Three of the network’s four windows declined, with BYU-Kansas (0.6, 1.03M) shedding more than 50 percent of last year’s comparable Texas-Texas Tech audience (1.3, 2.28M) and Cal-Washington down slightly to a 0.6 and 1.16 million.
Auburn-Texas A&M was the lone exception with a 1.2 (+4%) and 2.18 million (+6%) in the Noon ET window.
For more sports ratings, see the weekly chart.
