While Alabama and Texas played their way into the BCS championship game, CBS and ABC celebrated the ratings bonanza that came their way on Saturday.
Texas narrow 13-12 win over Nebraska Saturday night let ABC win the Saturday night ratings battle.
The game drew an over night rating of 7.6 which translated into about 11.5 million viewers. More importantly for ABC, the game dominated the coveted target demo of adults 18-49, drawing in almost twice as many of those viewers as the next network. The ACC Championship game on ESPN Saturday night meanwhile drew a paltry 1.9 rating which translates to about 2.8 million viewers.
Texas win Saturday night over Nebraska is the highest-reated Big 12 Championship game since the 2000 OU-Kansas State matchup.
While the Big 12 gave ABC a Saturday night prime time win, Alabama's 32-13 over Florida gave CBS the highest-rated regular season college football game in three years. The game pulled an 11.8 overnight rating which translates into more than 19 million viewers. The rating is the highest ever for an SEC championship game.
The Alabama-Florida SEC championship is the highest rated collegiate football game on CBS since the Notre Dame-Miami contest in 1989.
Texas' thrilling 41-38 win over USC in the 2006 BCS championship game is easily the most watched BCS game ever, pulling a 21.7 rating and over 35 million viewers. No doubt the fact that two of the most recognizable programs will once again be meeting in the Rose Bowl gives the BCS hope that they can come near that record rating this time around.