For the fifth time in six weeks, ABC’s Saturday Night Football topped the college football ratings charts.
Michigan State-Michigan earned a 3.9 overnight rating on ABC Saturday night, up 22% from Florida State-Miami last year (3.2), up 44% from Miami-Florida State in 2015 (2.7), and easily the top college football overnight of the weekend.
ABC’s Saturday night series has now delivered the top college football overnight in all but one week this season. The lone exception was week three, when FOX topped the charts in the overnights with Texas-USC.
The Spartans’ upset win, which peaked with a 5.5 from 11-11:15 PM ET, topped last year’s game between the rivals by 26% (3.1). That game aired at Noon ET on ESPN. Compared to the infamous 2015 game, in which Michigan State won on a botched snap, overnights fell 24% from a 5.1. That game also aired on ESPN.
Earlier in the day, ABC earned a 2.0 (-26%) for Penn State-Northwestern and a 1.7 (-15%) for Notre Dame-North Carolina.
Ranking second for the weekend, Alabama-Texas A&M scored a 2.7 overnight on ESPN — up 13% from Alabama-Arkansas last year (2.4) and the network’s top Saturday overnight of the season. Not far behind was LSU-Florida on CBS with a 2.6, down 35% from Tennessee-Texas A&M last year (4.0) and down 16% from Georgia-Tennessee in 2015 (3.1).
In fourth-place was Maryland-Ohio State, with a 2.1 overnight on FOX. There was no comparable window last year. Rounding out the top five, Iowa State-Oklahoma on FOX and Miami-Florida State on ESPN both netted a 2.0 overnight.
In other notable action, Washington State-Oregon scored a 1.4 overnight rating on FOX in primetime Saturday, up a tick from Washington-Oregon last year (1.3). Meanwhile, Cal-Washington had a 1.1 on ESPN in a late night window, matching last year’s Washington State-Stanford matchup.
[Wknd. numbers from ESPN, Sports Business Daily 10.9]
