Hefty competition kept the numbers lower than one would have expected, but the SEC on CBS still did well on Saturday.
The Alabama/Mississippi college football game drew a 3.9 overnight rating on CBS Saturday afternoon, up 8% from Georgia/Tennessee last year (3.6) and down 17% from LSU/Florida in 2012 (4.7). The 3.9 was the highest college football overnight of the week, marking the sixth straight week that an afternoon game has tied or earned the top mark.
With that said, the 3.9 also marks the lowest overnight for the top game of any week this season. The top overnight of week one was a 4.1, followed by a 4.6 in week two, a 4.2 in week three, a 5.1 in week four and a 4.0 last week.
Tough competition from other games likely kept the numbers lower than they otherwise would have been. Head-to-head, Mississippi’s upset win faced Stanford/Notre Dame on NBC (2.7), regional action on ABC (2.3) and Oklahoma/TCU on FOX (1.4). While none of those three games could match CBS individually, they combined for formidable opposition.
As should be expected, Alabama/Mississippi had a higher overnight than Mississippi State’s upset of Texas A&M on ESPN earlier in the day (2.7).
(Sat. overnight from Sports Business Daily)
