A roller coaster ride of a college football season ended on a high note for ABC, CBS and FOX.
The Big 12, ACC and SEC Championship games all saw ratings gains when compared to last year. ABC drew a 7.3 overnight rating for the Big 12 Championship Game, up 74% from last year. The 7.3 makes the game, which featured #9 Oklahoma defeating #1 Missouri, the highest rated college football telecast of the season. The 7.3 rating is also the highest for the Big 12 title game since 2000, when Oklahoma/Kansas State drew an 8.2.
While viewer interest was understandably high for a game featuring the #1 team in the nation on the last weekend of the season, ABC also saw a bump for the ACC title game. Virginia Tech’s win over Boston College drew a 4.2 overnight on Saturday afternoon, up 5% from 2006.
CBS saw big gains for its SEC Championship coverage, though the network could partially thank the underwhelming USC/UCLA game airing opposite for part of that jump. While USC/UCLA was down 54% in ratings, from an 8.2 last year to a 3.8, the SEC title game saw a 28% jump, from a 4.7 last year to a 6.0. The 6.0 rating for LSU’s victory over Tennessee is the highest for the SEC Championship Game since Tennessee/Florida drew a 6.7 in 2001.
FOX did not air any college football games, though the network saw the biggest rating of the weekend for programming related to the sport. The BCS Selection Show on FOX drew an 8.3 overnight rating, down 12% from last year, but still a very impressive number. That being said, the BCS Selection Show lost 31% of its lead-in from The OT, which averaged a 12.1 rating.
College football ratings.
8.3: BCS Selection Show (Sun., 12/2, 7:45 PM FOX); down 12% from ’06.
7.3: Big 12 Championship Game, OK/Miss (Sat., 12/1, 8 PM ABC); up 74% from ’06.
6.0: SEC Championship Game, LSU/TN (Sat., 12/1, 4 PM CBS); up 28% from ’06.
4.2: ACC Championship Game, VT/BC (Sat., 12/1, 1 PM ABC); up 5% from ’06.
3.8: USC/UCLA (Sat., 12/1, 4:30 PM ABC); down 54% from ’06.
2.4: Army/Navy (Sat., 12/1, 12 PM CBS); down 8% from ’06.
