College football returned this weekend, and there were several shocking upsets, Top 10 team clashes, and Heisman reel-worthy moments to be seen. So which game did audiences tune into the most in the first week of NCAA football’s return?
ABC scored its biggest college football opening weekend ever, averaging 8.6 million viewers across four games, while ESPN celebrated the best first week for the network on record. Here’s a breakdown of the most-watched games.
On ABC, Saturday’s showdown between the University of Alabama and Florida State University set the pace for the day, becoming the most-watched Week 1 mid-afternoon game on record with an average of 10.7 million viewers and a peak of an impressive 12.9 million, as ESPN touted in a press release. LSU’s battle with Clemson wasn’t far behind, pulling in 10.4 million viewers, per Nielsen. When Syracuse University and the University of Tennessee faced off in the neutral territory of Atlanta, the game averaged 2.6 million viewers, which meant the triple-header on Saturday scored an average of 7.8 million viewers in all.
Sunday’s primetime clash between Notre Dame and the University of Miami reignited the momentum, drawing 10.8 million viewers and peaking at 11.8 million, good enough to rank as ABC’s second-most-watched Sunday opener ever after the 2016 game between Notre Dame and Texas.
Over at ESPN, Sunday also saw 5.4 million viewers for the second Aflac Kickoff Game, featuring Virginia Tech and the University of South Carolina, also playing in Atlanta. The game peaked with 6.5 million viewers. Based on Nielsen, ESPN’s Labor Day Monday game between TCU and North Carolina nabbed 6.1 million views with a peak of 8.1 million viewers. The complete and final audience will be available on Thursday.
In all, three of ABC’s four opening-weekend games cleared the 10 million mark, the first time ESPN networks have ever hit that milestone in a single kickoff weekend.
The Wrap’s reporting adds that Friday’s Georgia Tech versus Colorado game on ESPN brought in an average of 3.7 million viewers; Nebraska and Cincinnati’s showdown boasted 3.3 million; and the Thursday game between Boise State and the University of South Florida came in at 2 million average viewers.
As such, the average viewership rankings for this weekend’s college games thus far are:
1. Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Miami Hurricanes (W): 10.8 million
2. Alabama Crimson Tide vs. FSU Seminoles (W): 10.7 million
3. LSU Tigers (W) vs. Clemson Tigers: 10.4 million
4. TCU Horned Frogs (W) vs. UNC Tarheels: 6.1 million
5. South Carolina Gamecocks (W) vs. Virginia Tech Hokies: 6.5 million
6. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (W) vs. Colorado Buffaloes: 3.7 million
7. Nebraska Cornhuskers (W) vs. Cincinnati Bearcats: 3.3 million
8. Boise State Broncos vs. USF Bulls (W): 2 million