On an uneventful weekend of college football, the SEC topped the charts and a pair of smaller networks hit viewership milestones.
For just the second time since week zero — but the second time in four weeks — no college football game managed to reach six million viewers. Georgia-Tennessee was the top game of week twelve with a 3.1 rating and 5.73 million viewers on CBS, up 24% in ratings and 28% in viewership from Georgia-Kentucky a year ago (2.5, 4.48M).
The Bulldogs’ win, which peaked with 5.73 million, was the most-watched week twelve edition of the SEC on CBS in four years (2019 Georgia-Auburn: 6.77M). Keep in mind week twelve is typically when SEC teams play “cupcake” opponents ahead of their rivalry games.
The SEC on CBS has now taken top honors in three of the past four weeks.
Placing second for the week, Michigan-Maryland averaged a 3.0 (+23%) and 5.43 million (+25%) on FOX “Big Noon Saturday,” placing a middle-of-the-road sixth out of the 12 “Big Noon” windows this season. The Wolverines’ win dominated the Noon window, which FOX has won in eight of 12 weeks this season.
ABC swept the rest of the top five, with Washington-Oregon State ranking third with a 2.5 and 4.73 million on Saturday Night Football — up 49% and 55% respectively from Oklahoma State-Oklahoma “Bedlam” last year (1.7, 3.06M). The Huskies’ win was easily the top primetime game, topping Texas-Iowa State on FOX (1.4, 2.47M) and Nebraska-Wisconsin on NBC (1.3, 2.45M).
Shifting to the afternoon, Louisville-Miami ranked fourth at a 1.7 and 2.89 million and USC-UCLA fifth at a 1.5 and 2.65 million — both down sharply from last year’s equivalent afternoon windows, both of which featured Big Ten matchups (Illinois-Michigan: 3.05, 5.47M; Ohio State-Maryland: 3.45, 6.60M)
Florida-Missouri topped the cable charts with a 1.2 and 2.27 million on ESPN, down more than 50 percent from Tennessee-South Carolina last year (2.45, 4.87M). Oklahoma-BYU was not far behind at a 1.3 and 2.17 million earlier in the day, up about a third from Wisconsin-Nebraska last year (1.0, 1.63M).
In a fairly uneventful week for the big networks, Big Ten Network came away with a viewership record for Ohio State-Minnesota — the most-watched program in network history with a 1.0 and 2.02 million. (Keep in mind BTN has only been Nielsen-rated for four years). Viewership soared 135% from Penn State-Rutgers last year (856K).
The CW also hit a viewership record, scoring a 0.7 and 1.33 million for North Alabama-Florida State — the most-watched game in the network’s inaugural season of college football.
Rounding out the week twelve slate, NBC drew a 0.9 and 1.48 million for Notre Dame’s home finale against Wake Forest — up from their finale home game last year against Boston College (0.8, 1.27M).
For the full list of week twelve numbers, see the usual weekly chart.
