Even in a blowout, the Miami/Florida State rivalry was a strong draw for ABC last weekend.
The Miami/Florida State “Saturday Night Football” game drew a 5.1 final rating and 8.4 million viewers on ABC last week, up 168% in ratings and 191% in viewership from Oklahoma State/Kansas State last year (1.9, 2.9M), and 183% and 173% in viewership from regional action in 2011 (1.8, 3.1M).
Saturday’s game earned the third-largest rating and viewership of the season for college football on any network, trailing only Michigan/Notre Dame on ESPN in week two (5.3, 8.7M), and Alabama/Texas A&M on CBS in week three (8.5, 13.6M).
Earlier in the day, ABC drew a 3.3 and 5.2 million viewers for the Michigan/Michigan State game — edging concurrent coverage of Georgia/Florida on CBS (3.1, 4.9M). That is a reversal from the overnights, which saw Georgia/Florida win the ratings battle 3.4 to 3.3.
Rounding out the top five, the Noon ET regional window on ABC earned a 2.3 final rating and 3.5 million viewers, and Navy/Notre Dame on NBC drew a 1.7 and 2.6 million. Not only was Navy/Notre Dame down 55% in ratings and 58% in viewership from Pittsburgh/Notre Dame last year (3.8, 6.0M), but the game also had highest median age of any college football game on broadcast TV last weekend (60).
As usual, FOX brought up the rear on broadcast. The network’s Oklahoma State/Texas Tech game had a 1.4 final rating and 2.4 million viewers, down 50% and 47%, respectively, from USC/Oregon last year (2.8, 4.5M).
On ESPN, the Tennessee/Missouri and Illinois/Penn State games topped the charts, each earning a 1.4 U.S. rating. Tennessee/Missouri attracted slightly more viewers (2.3M to 2.0M). The network’s Clemson/Virginia game was less impressive, with a 0.9 and 1.2 million.
ESPN2 topped the charts with a 1.2 and 1.8 million for the Friday night USC/Oregon State game — up 50% in ratings and 47% in viewership from Washington/Cal last year (0.8, 1.2M). The network’s Auburn/Arkansas game topped the Saturday slate with a 1.0 and 1.7 million.
(Week ten finals from Nielsen, Son of the Bronx)
