ESPN scored strong numbers for Mississippi’s second-straight upset win over Alabama.
Saturday’s Mississippi/Alabama college football game drew 7.6 million viewers on ESPN, up 335% from USC/Boston College last year (1.7M) and up 305% from Vanderbilt/South Carolina in 2013 (1.9M). Both of those games aired in earlier timeslots. Mississippi’s win was the top college football game of week three and ranks sixth for the young season, with each of the top seven having aired on ESPN or ABC.
This is the second straight year that Mississippi has upset Alabama. The teams’ meeting last year, which aired on CBS, drew 5.9 million.
South Carolina/Georgia drew 3.2 million viewers earlier in the night, up 93% from Iowa State/Iowa last year (1.7M) and up 198% from Nevada/Florida State in 2013 (1.1M). The final minutes of the Bulldogs’ blowout win aired on the SEC Network’s alternate channel.
Continuing the trend of big increases, Florida State/Boston College drew 3.1 million on ESPN the previous night — up 145% from Baylor/Buffalo last year (1.3M), up 57% from Air Force/Boise State in 2013 (2.0M), and the most-watched Friday game on ESPN or ESPN2 since Boise State/Michigan State in 2012 (4.2M).
Connecticut/Missouri was the lone dud on ESPN, scoring 1.9 million in Saturday’s Noon ET window — down 26% from ECU/Virginia Tech last year (2.7M) and down 17% from Louisville/Kentucky in 2013 (2.28M).
Over on ESPN2, Texas Tech/Arkansas topped the charts with 1.9 million Saturday night — up 100% from Rice/Texas A&M in a later timeslot last year (956K). ESPNU’s top audience was 844,000 for Western Carolina/Tennessee, up 19% from UL-Monroe/LSU last year (709K) and up 40% from Kent State/LSU in 2013 (601K).
