It is one of the fiercest rivalries in college football, but the “Holy War” barely registered in the ratings on FOX.
BYU/Utah earned a 1.0 final rating and 1.7 million viewers on FOX last Saturday night, down a tick in ratings and 5% in viewership from Iowa/Iowa State last year (1.1, 1.8M) and down 71% and 72%, respectively, from Michigan State/Oregon in 2014, a matchup of top ten teams (3.5, 6.0M).
The Utes’ narrow win did top last year’s season opener on FOX, Virginia/UCLA in week one of the season (0.9, 1.4M). FOX did not air a week one game this year. It also topped the previous edition of the “Holy War” — not counting last year’s meeting in the Las Vegas Bowl — which had a 0.8 and 1.1 million on ESPN2 in 2013.
Even so, the numbers were less than impressive. Head-to-head, the game trailed both Virginia Tech/Tennessee on ABC (3.3, 5.8M) and Arkansas/TCU on ESPN (1.5, 2.5M). Of the six games on a broadcast network in week two, it was easily the lowest rated and least-watched.
Over on Fox Sports 1, Texas Tech/Arizona State led the week two slate with a 0.4 and 834,000 late Saturday night — up 300% in ratings and 452% in viewership from UCF/Stanford last year (0.1, 151K) and up a tick and 87%, respectively, from Texas Tech/UTEP in 2014 (0.3, 447K). SMU/Baylor also posted big gains earlier in the day, with a 0.4 (+100%) and 668,000 (+148%).
Rounding out the day, Central Michigan/Oklahoma State had a 0.3 and 519,000 — up a tick in ratings and 54% in viewership from Kansas State/Texas-San Antonio last year (0.2, 338K), but down a tick and 13%, respectively, from Kansas/Iowa State in 2014 (0.4, 596K).
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily)
