The controversy — and melodrama — surrounding Michigan helped generate another large audience in what has been a strong college football season.
Michigan-Penn State averaged a 5.0 rating and 9.16 million viewers on the latest edition of FOX “Big Noon Saturday,” marking the sixth-largest audience of the college football season. More games have topped the nine million mark this season (six) than the entirety of last (five). Zooming out further, more games have topped the seven million mark (16) than in any regular season over the past decade. (Keep in mind out-of-home viewing was not included in Nielsen estimates prior to 2020.)
The Wolverines’ win, which peaked with 11.25 million viewers from 2:45-3 PM ET, nearly tripled last year’s comparable Indiana-Ohio state game (1.75, 3.34M).
FOX “Big Noon Saturday” is now averaging 5.72 million viewers, up 10% from last year (5.22M) and the most-watched window on any network this season.
The big noon lead-in helped FOX to the two largest audiences of the college football weekend, as Utah-Washington followed with a 2.8 and 5.17 million — more than double Maryland-Penn State last year (1.0, 1.88M). Outside of Colorado games, the Huskies’ win delivered the second-largest audience for a Pac-12 conference game this season. Oregon-Washington drew 7.04 million on ABC last month.
Utah-Washington won a competitive midday window that also included the fourth and fifth-most watched games of the week. Miami-Florida State placed fourth with a 2.2 and 4.14 million on ABC, the largest audience for the rivalry since 2016 (5.5M). Ratings increased 5% and viewership 7% from Nebraska-Michigan last year (2.1, 3.88M).
Tennessee-Missouri ranked fifth with a 2.0 and 3.62 million on the SEC on CBS, down 60% in ratings and 58% in viewership from Alabama-Mississippi last year (4.8, 8.71M).
CBS was unable to pick the higher-profile Mississippi-Georgia game as it had already made the maximum number of Bulldogs selections. That game, which aired on ESPN in primetime, ranked third for the week with a 2.5 and 4.83 million — up 42% in ratings and 45% in viewership from last year (Georgia-Mississippi State: 1.8, 3.34M) and the third-largest cable audience this season.
The Bulldogs’ blowout win won a primetime window that also included a 1.9 and 3.57 million for Michigan State-Ohio State on NBC and a 1.5 and 2.82 million for Texas-TCU on ABC. The latter game declined 44% from the same matchup in the same window last year (2.7, 5.03M).
In other action, USC-Oregon drew a 1.7 and 3.01 million in a rare late night window on FOX — up 52% in ratings and 62% in viewership from Arizona-UCLA in the same window last year (1.1, 1.86M). The game built on its West Virginia-Oklahoma lead-in (1.3, 2.39M).
Returning to the afternoon windows, Alabama-Kentucky averaged a 1.6 and 2.76 million on ESPN in the Noon ET slot — down 21% and 23% respectively from last year (LSU-Arkansas: 2.0, 3.57M) and the Tide’s least-watched game since the 2020 season.
The game still placed (a distant) second for the Noon timeslot, ranking comfortably ahead of Georgia Tech-Clemson on ABC (0.9, 1.62M).
For the full list of week eleven college football ratings, see the following page.
