The #1, #2 and #4 ranked teams in the nation proved big draws for ABC and CBS over the holiday weekend.
Saturday Night Football on ABC, featuring #4 Missouri versus #2 Kansas, drew a 7.0 overnight on Saturday night, the highest overnight for a college football game this season — eclipsing the 6.4 overnight for Buckeyes/Wolverines last week. While Missouri/Kansas is the highest rated college football game of the season, the 7.0 overnight marks a 27% drop from the 9.6 overnight the comparable Notre Dame/USC game drew last year.
CBS, meanwhile, drew a large audience for an epic game on Friday afternoon. Arkansas’ triple-overtime upset victory over LSU drew a 5.1 overnight rating, the second-highest SEC on CBS overnight of the season, behind Florida/LSU earlier in the year. The 5.1 overnight is a 50% jump from a 3.4 overnight for the same match-up on the comparable date last year.
Over the three-day weekend, ABC averaged a 4.2 overnight rating for four games, down 19% from last year. CBS averaged a 4.3 overnight for three games, up 23% from a 3.5 overnight for two games in ’06.
College football overnights over the holiday weekend.
Friday
3.2: Nebraska/Colorado (12 PM, ABC); down 20% from ’06.
5.1: Arkansas/LSU (2:30 PM, CBS); up 50% from ’06.
3.2: Texas/Texas Tech (3:30 PM, ABC); up 19% from ’06.
Saturday
3.7: Tennessee/Kentucky (1 PM, CBS); no comparable timeslot in ’06.
3.5: Regional action (3:30 PM, ABC); no comparable timeslot in ’06.
4.2: Florida St./Florida (5 PM, CBS); no comparable timeslot in ’06.
7.0: Missouri/Kansas (8 PM, ABC); down 27% from ’06.
