The Georgia-Florida rivalry delivered one of its highest overnight ratings in years.
Georgia-Florida scored a 4.5 overnight rating on the SEC on CBS Saturday, up 105% from last year (2.2), and up 67% from 2016 (2.7), both of which featured the same matchup.
The Bulldogs’ win, which peaked at a 5.3 from 6-6:30 PM ET, delivered the highest overnight rating for the rivalry game since 2012 (4.7). It tied the third-highest overnight for the matchup in at least 20 years — matching 2007 and behind only 2012 and 2009 (4.8).
For the season, the 4.5 is tied as the third-highest college football overnight on any network. It matches Michigan-Notre Dame on NBC in Week 1 and trails only Ohio State-Penn State (6.1) and Ohio State-TCU (4.9) in September.
Georgia’s win was easily the top college football game of the weekend, cruising past the second-place Clemson-Florida State game on ABC (2.5).
Speaking of, overnights for the Tigers’ blowout win pulled even with last year (Oklahoma State-West Virginia) and increased 19% from 2016 (regional action: 2.1).
ABC also pulled a 2.4 for Texas-Oklahoma State in primetime (flat) and a 1.7 for mid-afternoon regional action (-15%).
In other action, ESPN drew a 1.8 for Iowa-Penn State (+157%), a 1.6 for Purdue-Michigan State (+23%) and a 1.3 for Texas A&M-Mississippi State (+63%).
Over on FOX, Wisconsin-Northwestern drew a 1.7 and Kansas State-Oklahoma a 1.6. The latter declined an unsurprising 75% from Penn State-Ohio State in the same window last year (6.4).
Returning to CBS, Notre Dame-Navy had a 1.7 in primetime — down a tick from the rivals’ previous CBS meeting in 2016, which aired at Noon ET (1.8). Compared to their primetime meeting on CBS in 2014, overnights fell 29% from a 2.4.
[Numbers from CBS Sports PR, Sports Business Daily 10.29, ESPN PR]
