College Football TV Ratings: ESPN announces record viewership for Lone Star Showdown
For the first time since 2011, Texas and Texas A&M played in the Lone Star Showdown. The stakes were especially high for the rivalry with College Football Playoff implications and an SEC Championship berth was on the line – and from a TV ratings standpoint, it delivered.
ABC brought in record viewership as 9.5 million people tuned in for the matchup, ESPN announced. That made it the most-watched Lone Star Showdown on record, and it had a peak audience of 10.6 million viewers.
Texas vs. Texas A&M was the second-most watched game of Week 14, only trailing Ohio State vs. Michigan. That game, which saw the Wolverines stun the Buckeyes, drew 12.3 million viewers on FOX to lead the Rivalry Week charge.
The Texas defense held strong in Saturday’s renewal of the Lone Star Showdown, keeping Texas A&M’s offense out of the end zone. The Aggies’ only score came on a Quinn Ewers turnover, which proved to be their only points of the game as the Longhorns came away with the 17-7 victory to complete the 11-1 season.
The winner of the matchup not only brought home the Lone Star Showdown trophy, but also punched a ticket to Atlanta. That means Texas is heading to the SEC Championship to take on Georgia Saturday afternoon, hoping to secure a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff.
Top 10
- 1Trending
Paul Finebaum
ESPN host rips CFP amid blowout
- 2Hot
Dick Vitale
ESPN legend rips Lane Kiffin
- 3New
ASU vs. Texas odds
Early Peach Bowl line released
- 4
Klatt blasts Kiffin
Ole Miss HC called out for tweets
- 5
Kirk Herbstreit
Calling out CFP after Indiana loss
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
ESPN and ABC were big winners during Rivalry Week
Ohio State vs. Michigan was the most-watched college football game of Week 14, but ABC was one of the big TV ratings winners. The network had three of the top four most-watched games during Rivalry Week and five of the top seven.
Georgia and Georgia Tech was another ratings victory for ESPN and ABC. The Clean Old Fashioned Hate matchup averaged 8.47 million viewers on Black Friday, setting a record for that rivalry, as well. Those fans got quite a treat as the game went to eight overtimes before the Bulldogs came away with the victory.
On Saturday, right before Texas at Texas A&M, the Iron Bowl also brought in an impressive number. Alabama’s win over Auburn averaged 7.4 million viewers and peaked at 8.6 million as Kalen DeBoer got his first rivalry victory over the Tigers.