The strange decision to put Illinois football in primetime resulted in some of the lowest ratings ever for ABC’s Saturday Night Football.
Regional college football action featuring Illinois/Ohio State in 78% of markets drew a 2.1 final rating and 3.6 million viewers on ABC last Saturday night, down 59% in ratings and 57% in viewership from Miami/FSU last year (5.1, 8.4M) but up 11% and 26%, respectively, from Oklahoma State/Kansas State in 2012 (1.9, 2.9M).
The 2.1 rating is tied as the fourth-lowest ever for Saturday Night Football (106 telecasts dating back to 2006). Head-to-head, the telecast was outdrawn by Notre Dame/Navy on CBS (2.3, 3.9M) and Auburn/Mississippi on ESPN (3.4, 5.8M).
Ohio State won by 41 points, and the secondary game — Oklahoma State/Kansas State — was also a blowout.
Earlier Saturday, regional action featuring TCU/West Virginia in 77% of markets earned a 2.7 and 4.4 million — down 18% in ratings and 14% in viewership from Michigan/Michigan State last year (3.3, 5.2M).
(Sat. numbers from Sports Business Daily)
