College Football TV Ratings Week 2 – Schedule Week 3

After a spectacular week one of match ups, college football’s elite spent week two paying a bunch of Joe Palookas to come into town and take a beating. Some acted like spoiled visitors, bringing their own refs with them (Central Michigan says Hi!) but most played their part and fans didn’t bother to tune in.

Here is a look at the ratings.

Friday Sept. 9

1.73 million 7:00 pm Louisville/Syracuse ESPN2

Saturday Sept. 10

5.79 million 7:00 pm Tennessee/Va. Tech ABC

4.0 million 2:30 pm Tulsa/Ohio State ABC

2.86 million 11:00 am UCF/Michigan ABC

2.51 million 2:30 pm Kentucky/Florida CBS

2.47 million 6:00 pm Arkansas/TCU ESPN

2.46 million 2:30 pm Western Ky/Alabama ESPN2

2.45 million 2:30 pm Nevada/Notre Dame NBC

2.38 million 11:00 am Penn State/Pitt ESPN

1.69 million 6:30 pm BYU/Utah FOX

1.57 million 10:00 pm Virginia/Oregon ESPN

1.26 million 6:00 pm S. Carolina./Mississippi State ESPN2

1.13 million 11:00 am Wyoming/Nebraska ESPN2

834k 10:00 pm Texas Tech/Arizona St. FS1

800k 7:15 pm Jacksonville St. /LSU ESPNU

684k 10:00 pm Washington St./Boise St. ESPN2

668k 3:30 pm SMU/Baylor FS1

*Ratings Courtesy Sports Media Watch

A couple of notes. The Battle at Bristol (Tennessee vs. Va. Tech) was the most-watched game of the week, and would have been the 6^th highest rated game of week one.

Alabama’s beating of Western Kentucky pulled better numbers on ESPN2 than the Nevada-Notre Dame game on at the same time on NBC. That’s impressive considering that ESPN2 reaches just over 93 million homes, while NBC is in over 110 million.

Here is a list of some of the more interesting games of Week 3.

Thursday, Sept. 15^th

Houston at Cincinnati – 6:30 pm – ESPN (This game last year was in November and pulled just 396,000 viewers on ESPN2. It will be interesting to see if Houston has “legs” as a draw this year.)

Friday Sept. 16^th

Baylor at Rice – 7:00 pm – ESPN (Bears blew open a sluggish game after SMU committed a stupid penalty in the 3^rd quarter last week, and they shouldn’t have much of a problem this week as well.)

Saturday, Sept. 17^th

Texas at Cal – ESPN – 9:30 pm (See, this is why we can’t possibly move to the Pac 12 !!! Nobody would ever sleep during football season !!!)

Florida State at Louisville – 11:00 am – ABC (Nice opening contest for Saturday as Texas fans get to see Louisville QB Lamar Jackson – the second coming of VY – work his magic against FSU).

Alabama at Ole Miss – 2:30 pm – CBS (Ole Miss goes for their 3^rd straight win over ‘Bama. Anyone want to bet that way?)

Pittsburgh at Oklahoma State – 2:30 pm – ESPN (interesting match up. Pitt coming off an emotional win over Penn State and Oklahoma State coming off of, well, you know.)

The heavy hitters will take over the stage in primetime this weekend.

Ohio State at Oklahoma – 6:30 – FOX (When asked who I would root for I simply answered “Sweet Meteor of Death.”)

USC at Stanford – 7:00 pm – ABC (How the mighty have fallen. It’s USC who is hoping to avoid a blow out).

Michigan State at Notre Dame – 6:30 – NBC (I suspect Michigan State is overrated this year and an Irish win would help Texas).

Texas A&M at Auburn – 6:00 PM – ESPN (Somebody’s gotta lose, and somebody’s coach moves up the “Coaches on the Hot Seat List” with a bullet.)

Other Big 12 Games (As if you really care)

Iowa State at TCU – 11:00 am – FS1

Kansas at Memphis – 11:00 am – ESPNU

Louisiana Tech at Texas Tech – 6:00 – FSN

*All game times listed are central standard.