For anyone inclined to believe that ratings influence the decision-making of the College Football Playoff committee, playoff-bound Alabama attracted the largest conference championship audience in five years, while snubbed Florida State played in the least-watched of this year’s “Power 5” games.
Saturday’s Alabama-Georgia SEC Championship Game, the final edition of the “SEC on CBS,” averaged an 8.9 rating and 17.52 million viewers — marking the largest audience for any conference title game since the 2018 Alabama-Georgia SEC Championship (17.57M). This year’s audience trails only that game and 2009 as the highest ever for a conference title game (dates back to 1992). Keep in mind out-of-home viewing was not tracked in Nielsen final nationals until 2020.
The SEC now owns the eight largest conference championship audiences on record.
Most-watched college football conference championship games
Alabama’s win, which peaked with 22.35 million viewers, increased 58% in ratings and 61% in viewership from Georgia-LSU last year (5.6, 10.89M) and also increased 9% and 12% respectively from the previous Alabama-Georgia title game two years ago (8.2, 15.66M). For the season, the SEC title game trails only Ohio State-Michigan on FOX the prior week (9.0, 19.07M) as the highest rated and most-watched game on any network. See the full list of college football ratings this season here.
Ranking a distant second for the weekend, the Michigan-Iowa Big Ten Championship averaged a 5.1 and 10.02 million — down 7% in ratings and 6% in viewership from Michigan-Purdue a year ago (5.5, 10.70M) and the least-watched Big Ten title game since 2020, when Ohio State-Northwestern averaged a 4.2 and 8.25 million in a Noon ET timeslot.
The Wolverines’ win still ranked among the top five games this season (fourth or fifth, depending on whether one includes the Adobe Analytics audience for Ohio State-Notre Dame).
The Washington-Oregon Pac-12 Championship placed third with a 4.9 and 9.25 million on ABC Friday night. As previously noted, that is the largest audience by far in Pac-12 Championship history (dates back to 2011).
Overall, 11 college football games this season averaged at least nine million viewers — the most in a single season in at least a decade.
Rounding out the conference title game slate, Texas-Oklahoma State averaged a 4.4 and 7.89 million in the Big 12 Championship on ABC — down 16% in ratings and viewership from Kansas State-TCU last year (5.3, 9.41M) and the least-watched edition of the game since 2020 (Oklahoma-Iowa State: 3.03M).
The Florida State-Louisville ACC Championship was the least-watched of the “Power 5” title games with a 3.8 and 7.03 million, though that was still double Clemson-North Carolina last year (1.9, 3.47M) and the largest audience for the game since Clemson-Notre Dame in 2020 (10.09M).
Beyond the “Power 5,” the SMU-Tulane American Athletic Championship was the top “Group of 5” title game with a 1.0 and 1.88 million on ABC — down 29% in ratings and 30% in viewership from Tulane-UCF a year ago (1.5, 2.70M). The MAC Championship followed with a 0.8 and 1.29 million on ESPN, up 76% and 79% respectively from Toledo-Ohio last year (0.43, 721K).
The Boise State-UNLV Mountain West Championship had a 0.7 and 1.26 million on FOX, down a third and 35% respectively from last year’s 1.0 and 1.94 million (Fresno State-Boise State). The Sun Belt title game was easily the least-watched of the FBS championships with a 0.20 and 372,000 on ESPN — actually up 3% and 12% respectively from Coastal Carolina-Troy last year (0.19, 332K).
As for the SWAC Championship, FAMU-Prairie View A&M had a mere 0.06 and 90,000 — down 75% in ratings and 77% in viewership from Southern’s win over Deion Sanders-led Jackson State last year (0.23, 391K).
