A top ten overtime matchup delivered strong numbers for ABC.
Ohio State/Wisconsin scored a 5.6 overnight rating on the latest edition of ABC’s Saturday Night Football, up 60% from Penn State/Ohio State last year (3.5) and the third-highest college football overnight of the season on any network. There was no comparable window in 2014 due to NASCAR.
The Buckeyes’ overtime win, which peaked a 7.3 from 11:45 PM-Midnight ET, trails only Notre Dame/Texas on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend (7.0) and Louisville/Clemson two weeks earlier (6.0), both of which also aired on ABC.
As goes without saying, Buckeyes/Badgers was the top college football game of the weekend — comfortably topping the day’s other Top 10 matchup, Alabama’s blowout of Tennessee on CBS (4.1). It also topped competing coverage of the MLB National League Championship Series on Fox Sports 1 (3.9).
Earlier in the day, N.C. State/Clemson had a 3.3 overnight in the Noon ET window — up 43% from regional action last year (2.3) and even with Oklahoma/Texas in 2014. Overnights peaked at a 4.9 from 3:30-3:45 PM, as the Tigers avoided an upset.
The 3.3 is the third-highest for a Noon game this season, behind Florida State/Louisville in week three (4.5) and Oklahoma/Houston in week one (4.0), which also aired on ABC.
In other action, regional action had a 2.4 overnight opposite Alabama/Tennessee — up 85% from an unusually low Oklahoma/Kansas State game last year (1.3) but down 11% from regional action in 2014 (2.7).
(Wknd. numbers from ESPN)
