The two highest rated college football games of the season have both taken place on Saturday nights — and neither game aired on ABC’s Saturday Night Football.
CBS drew a 6.1/11 final rating and 10.5 million viewers for Florida/LSU on Saturday night, up 61% in ratings and 76% in viewership from a 3.8/7 and 6 million for last year’s primetime matchup between the same two teams, and up 15% and 27%, respectively, from a 5.3 and 8.3 million for another primetime tilt between the teams in ’07.
This marks the second-highest rated and second-most viewed college football game of the season on broadcast or cable, behind only USC/Ohio State on ESPN in September (6.3, 10.6 mil).
So far this season, CBS is averaging a 3.8/9 rating for college football coverage, up 36% from a 2.8/6 through the same point last year, and the highest average through this point of the season since ’99.
Highest rated, most-viewed college football games of ’09
All ratings are U.S. ratings
| Date | Game | Net | Rating | Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., 9/12/09 | USC/Ohio State | ESPN |
6.3
|
10.6 mil
|
| Sat., 10/10/09 | Florida/LSU | CBS |
6.1
|
10.5 mil
|
| Sat., 9/12/09 | Notre Dame/Michigan | ABC |
5.2
|
8.4 mil
|
| Mon., 9/7/09 | Miami/Florida State | ESPN |
5.1
|
8.4 mil
|
| Sat., 10/3/09 | Oklahoma/Miami or USC/Cal | ABC |
4.8
|
7.8 mil
|
Sources: Fang’s Bites, TV By the Numbers
