A battle of top ten teams led the way in week two of the college football season.
The Oregon/Michigan State Saturday Night Football game drew a 5.0 overnight rating on ABC, the highest of the weekend for college football on any network. There were no comparable games on ABC last year or in 2013, as the network had NASCAR commitments. Compared to last year’s Michigan State/Oregon game, which aired on FOX, the overnight increased 25% from a 4.0.
Detroit led all markets with a 20.8 rating, followed by Portland (18.2). Columbus, OH, was the top neutral market (15.2), with Dayton (10.8) and Cleveland (8.4) rounding out the top five.
Earlier in the day, Notre Dame/Virginia drew a 3.9 overnight — actually down 15% from USC/Stanford last year (4.6) but up 35% from regional action in 2013 (2.9). Oregon State/Michigan started the day off with a 3.2 overnight, up 52% from regional action last year (2.1). The games ranked second and third, respectively, for the weekend in the metered markets.
(Sat. numbers from ESPN)
