Colorado remains the talk of the town as far as ratings are concerned, but the SEC on CBS was a strong runner up on Saturday.
Georgia-Auburn averaged a 3.4 rating and 6.40 million viewers on the SEC on CBS Saturday afternoon, up 7% in ratings and 10% in viewership from last year (Alabama-Arkansas: 3.2, 5.83M) and the network’s most-watched week five game since 2015.
The Bulldogs’ win also delivered the largest college football audience of the season for CBS, which thanks to its addition of Big Ten games has already aired ten windows this season. Across all networks, it ranks tenth — marking the only SEC conference game in the top ten and just the third to involve any SEC team.
Colorado (five) and Florida State (two) are the only teams with multiple top ten games, with one appearance each by Ohio State, Notre Dame, LSU, Texas, Alabama, Nebraska, TCU, USC, Clemson, Georgia and Auburn.
For the weekend, it placed second behind only USC-Colorado on FOX (4.0, 7.24M). Its peak audience of 9.69 million viewers was not far off the peak for USC-Colorado (10.34M).
Ranking third for the week, Notre Dame’s comeback win over Duke averaged a 2.9 and 5.32 million on ABC’s Saturday Night Football — up 6% in ratings and 7% in viewership from NC State-Clemson on ABC and ESPN2 last year (2.8, 4.98M) and the network’s most-watched Saturday night game this season.
Leading out of USC-Colorado, Michigan-Nebraska finished fourth with a 2.4 and 4.48 million on FOX — up 77% and 86% respectively from Oklahoma State-Baylor a year ago (1.35, 2.41M) and the network’s most-watched non-Colorado game this season.
Rounding out the top five, LSU’s high-scoring thriller against Mississippi drew a 1.9 and 3.72 million on ESPN — up 36% and 34% respectively from LSU-Auburn last year (1.4, 2.79M) and slightly higher than its Alabama-Mississippi State lead-out (1.8, 3.35M). Alabama’s win still soared 85% and 75% respectively from Arizona State-USC in a later window last year (1.0, 1.92M).
ESPN opened its SEC tripleheader with double-digit declines for Florida-Kentucky, which at a 1.3 (-18%) and 2.32 million (-17%) could not measure up to Kentucky-Mississippi a year ago (1.6, 2.79M).
In other action, ABC scored a 1.8 and 3.32 million for Kansas-Texas — up 28% and 34% respectively from Wake Forest-FSU last year (1.4, 2.48M) — and a 1.2 (-18%) and 1.98 million (-20%) for Clemson-Syracuse.
NBC’s Saturday night Big Ten game (Michigan State-Iowa) had a 1.2 and 2.17 million, trailing only West Virginia-Penn State in week one (1.8, 3.50M) as its most-watched Big Ten telecast yet. (Its Ohio State-Notre Dame game last weekend was part of its Notre Dame TV deal.)
Louisville-NC State drew a 1.1 and 1.89 million on ESPN Friday night, topping Louisville-Georgia Tech in week one (0.9, 1.65M) as the most-watched Friday night game so far this season.
Big Ten Network topped the million viewer mark for the fourth time this season as 1.12 million tuned in for regional action featuring Penn State-Northwestern.
For more college football ratings, see the weekly chart.
