In a season dominated by the “SEC on ABC,” FOX “Big Noon Saturday” topped the college football ratings charts for just the second time over the weekend.
Nebraska-Ohio State scored 5.96 million viewers on the latest edition of FOX “Big Noon Saturday,” the most-watched college football game of the weekend and up 66% from Oklahoma-Kansas last year (3.60M).
The Buckeyes’ closer-than-expected win, which peaked with 9.46 million viewers, was just the second “Big Noon” game this season to top a college football weekend, joining Texas-Michigan in week two.
ABC was not far behind with 5.54 million for Missouri-Alabama in its midday window, more-than-double BYU-Texas on the network a year ago (2.38M). Versus the comparable “SEC on CBS” window last season — Georgia-Florida — viewership actually slipped 7% from 5.95 million.
For just the second time this season, the network’s 3:30 PM ET game outperformed its primetime window, as LSU-Texas A&M drew 5.06 million. The other occasion also involved LSU, when their primetime matchup with Missisippi (4.24M) trailed the Texas-Oklahoma Red River Rivalry (7.63M). Those two LSU games are the least-watched primetime SEC windows on ABC this season.
Viewership still increased 9% from Colorado-UCLA last year (4.66M).
Notre Dame-Navy opened the ABC tripleheader with 2.79 million, up 34% from FSU-Wake Forest a year ago (2.09M).
Returning to Big Ten action, NBC drew 3.34 million for Penn State-Wisconsin — down 31% from Ohio State-Wisconsin last year (4.87M) — and CBS 2.75 million for Illinois-Oregon, down more than 50% from last year’s previously mentioned Georgia-Florida game. Airing immediately following Game 1 of the World Series, FOX drew 2.01 million for Rutgers-USC Friday night.
Big Ten Network drew 1.73 million for Michigan State-Michigan, the most-watched primetime game ever on the network (which became Nielsen rated in 2018) — ahead of ESPN’s Florida State-Miami game in the same window (1.53M). BTN also drew 1.07 million for Washington-Indiana, which was the site of ESPN’s College Gameday, up nearly fourfold from Maryland-Northwestern a year ago.
Cable topped out at 2.60 million for Oklahoma-Mississippi on ESPN, up 37% from South Carolina-Texas A&M last year (1.90M). Cincinnati-Colorado drew 2.34 million, up 67% respectively from last year’s Oregon State-Arizona game (1.40M).
