Week two of the college football season delivered strong overnight ratings on ABC and FOX.
LSU-Texas averaged a 5.8 overnight rating on ABC’s Saturday Night Football last night, up 190% from last year (Penn State-Pittsburgh: 2.0), and up 9% from Oklahoma-Ohio State two years ago (5.3).
The 5.8 overnight is the highest of the young season, topping the previous high set just hours earlier by Texas A&M-Clemson.
Clemson’s win averaged a 4.7 overnight, up 124% from last year (Colorado-Nebraska) and up 74% from 2017 (Pittsburgh-Penn State: 2.7). The 4.7 is also up 57% from last year’s meeting between the same two teams, which aired in primetime on ESPN (3.0).
Ranking third for the day, FOX averaged a 3.4 for Michigan’s double-overtime win over Army — up 48% from UCLA-Oklahoma last year (2.3), and the highest overnight of any game in the Noon ET window.
Army-Michigan beat ABC’s competing Cincinnati-Ohio State game by 31% (2.6) and came to within a ratings point of matching all four ESPN networks combined (4.3).
Speaking of Cincinnati-Ohio State, that game increased 37% over last year’s regional window (1.9). ABC averaged a 4.5 for its full tripleheader, up 125% from last year.
In other action, ESPN averaged a 1.5 for Stanford-USC Saturday night — down a tick from Michigan State-Arizona State last year (1.6).
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