After years of the SEC on CBS and ABC’s Saturday Night Football staking a claim as college football’s premier window, FOX “Big Noon Saturday” may well have its own argument.
FOX said this week that its “Big Noon Saturday” window is averaging more viewers (5.20M) than any other college football telecast. The latest edition, Ohio State-Nebraska last weekend, was the most-watched game of week ten with a 3.0 rating and 5.33 million viewers — giving “Big Noon” its second-straight weekly victory and its fourth in ten weeks this season.
The Buckeyes’ win jumped 134% in ratings and 129% in viewership from Arizona State-USC last year, the much-hyped 9 AM local time Pac-12 season opener that was swamped by presidential election coverage (1.3, 2.33M). Comparisons to last year come with the caveat that the presidential election was called just as the Noon ET games were starting and the victory speech was given in primetime.
Ratings also jumped 69% and viewership 98% from 2019 (Nebraska-Purdue: 1.8, 2.70M).
Ranking second for the weekend, ESPN drew a 2.8 and 5.00 million for LSU-Alabama — the most-watched regular season college football game on cable since 2019 (LSU-Florida: 3.6, 6.61M)
The Tide’s narrow win, which peaked with six million viewers, jumped nearly sixfold from last season’s comparable window — which aired opposite both a much-hyped Clemson-Notre Dame game and a presidential victory speech (Texas A&M-South Carolina: 0.5, 876K). It also outdrew last year’s game between the rivals, which aired on CBS in primetime — but was delayed a month from November to December (2.3, 4.22M).
The third and fourth-place games aired head-to-head. ABC took third with a 2.5 and 4.40 million for Purdue’s midday upset of Michigan State, tripling last year (Houston-Cincinnati: 0.85, 1.39M) and doubling 2019 (Miami-FSU: 1.3, 2.01M).
CBS placed fourth with a 2.2 and 3.76 million for Auburn-Texas A&M, down big from both last year and 2019, with the caveat that the network aired the Georgia-Florida rivalry game both years.
Rounding out the top five, ABC pulled a 1.5 and 2.73 million for Oregon-Washington on Saturday Night Football — up 71% and 65% respectively from Stanford-Oregon opposite Clemson-Notre Dame and election victory speech coverage last year (0.9, 1.66M). Compared to 2019, ratings fell 14% and viewership 7% from a group of five SMU-Memphis game (1.8, 2.95M).
The Ducks’ win barely edged the competing Indiana-Michigan game on FOX, which drew a 1.5 and 2.68 million — down 26% and 22% respectively from ’19 (Oregon-USC: 2.1, 3.43M). There was no comparable window last year.
In other action on broadcast, ABC drew a 1.3 and 2.20 million for Wake Forest-North Carolina — actually down 17% and 20% respectively from abbreviated coverage of West Virginia-Texas last year (1.6, 2.75M) and down 37% and 29% respectively from 2019 (Michigan-Maryland: 2.1, 3.10M).
NBC pulled a 1.1 and 1.86 million for Navy-Notre Dame, marking its least-watched Notre Dame game since the 2019 finale against Boston College (1.66M). FOX drew a 1.0 (flat) and 1.81 million (-6%) for Baylor-TCU. CBS brought up the rear with a mere 0.9 and 1.44 million for Army-Air Force.
Returning to cable, ESPN drew a 1.3 and 2.19 million for Missouri-Georgia — doubling both last year (Michigan State-Iowa: 0.6, 1.07M) and 2019 (NC State-Wake Forest: 0.6, 890K). Oklahoma State-West Virginia (0.6, 1.14M) also scored big increases over last year and ’19. The network’s USC-Arizona State nightcap (1.0, 1.61M) was the highest rated and second-most watched late night game all season.
Finally, ESPN2 drew its largest college football audience in three years for Tennessee-Kentucky (0.8, 1.48M).
For the full list of 2021 college football TV ratings, see this page.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 11.9, network PR]
