College Football TV Ratings: Top 8 most-watched games of Week 7

Oregon and Ohio State’s top-three matchup Saturday night in Eugene lived up to the billing. The first Big Ten meeting between the two programs came down to the last drive, as the Ducks used a 12-men penalty loophole to hand the Buckeyes a 32-31 loss.

The game drew the largest primetime audience for a regular season Big Ten conference game since 2008. Oregon-Ohio State now ranks second to Georgia–Alabama (11.98 million) in TV ratings through the first seven weeks of the college football season.

On3 is looking at the most-watched games in Week 7. On3 compiled data from network press releases, Programming Insider and Sports Business Journal to piece together the top 10 most-watched games from Week 7 of the college football season. Data from SEC Network, ACC Network and Longhorn Network are not included because the networks do not pay for Nielsen to measure viewership. All Nielsen figures include streaming viewership and includes out-of-home viewing.

Here is the full breakdown of Week 7’s college football TV ratings:

1. Ohio State at Oregon
Channel: NBC
Date/Time: Saturday, Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET
Viewers: 10.4 million

Oregon’s 32-31 win over Ohio State in the top-three matchup drew the largest primetime audience for a regular season Big Ten conference game since 2008. The game averaged 10.2 million viewers across NBC, Peacock and NBC Sports Digital. NBC Sports’ audience peaked at 13.4 million viewers in the game’s final minutes. Ohio State-Oregon is the most-watched primetime regular-season matchup between Big Ten teams since Oct. 25, 2008 (Penn State-Ohio State, 10.4 million viewers on ABC).

2. Oklahoma v. Texas
Channel: ABC
Date/Time: Saturday, Oct. 12 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Viewers: 7.6 million

Quinn Ewers made his return as No. 1 Texas cruised to a 34-3 win over Oklahoma in the first Red Rivalry edition with both teams in the SEC. Ewers returned four weeks after straining his abdomen, throwing for 199 yards and finishing 20 of 29. He was sacked for the only time on the game’s first play and threw his only interception on his first pass. Saturday’s game marked the 120th in the series that dates to 1900 and has been played annually during the State Fair of Texas since 1929.

3. South Carolina at Alabama
Channel: ABC
Date/Time: Saturday, Oct. 12 at Noon ET
Viewers: 6 million

Alabama nearly dropped its second consecutive SEC game, holding off South Carolina. Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers hit Nyck Harbor for a 31-yard touchdown pass with 43 seconds remaining. The Gamecocks failed to convert the two-point attempt. But the Crimson Tide failed to recover the ensuing onside kick, giving South Carolina one last shot. Alabama picked off Sellers with 13 seconds remaining to escape with a 27-25 win.

4. Penn State at USC
Channel: CBS
Date/Time: Saturday, Oct. 12 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Viewers: 4.3 million

Penn State tight end Tyler Warren caught 17 passes to tie the FBS single-game record for tight ends, finishing with 224 receiving yards and a touchdown catch. The Nittany Lions pulled out a 33-30 win in overtime, rising to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 poll. USC fell to 3-3 after dropping three of its last four.

5. Ole Miss at LSU
Channel: ABC
Date/Time: Saturday, Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET
Viewers: 4.2 million

Garrett Nussmeier threw a tying touchdown pass to Aaron Anderson in the final seconds of the fourth quarter and then hit Kyren Lacy for a 25-yard scoring strike on LSU’s first overtime play, stunning Ole Miss 29-26. Nussmeier struggled for most of the game, throwing two interceptions before stepping up late for the Tigers. The win catapults LSU back into the SEC title race and College Football Playoff conversation.

6. Kansas State at Colorado
Channel: ESPN
Date/Time: Saturday, Oct. 12 at 10:15 p.m. ET
Viewers: 3.3 million

Colorado took the lead when quarterback Shedeur Sanders threw an 11-yard touchdown to LaJohntay Wester with 3:12 left remaining in the game. Kansas State answered. Wildcats quarterback Avery Johnson found Jayce Brown for a 50-yard touchdown with 2:14 remaining as K-State escaped Boulder with a 31-28 win and a 2-1 mark in the Big 12. Kansas State’s DJ Giddens rushed for 182 yards, becoming the first running back to break 100 yards against Colorado.

7. Florida at Tennessee
Channel: ESPN
Date/Time: Saturday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. ET
Viewers: 3.2 million

Florida led for the majority of Saturday night’s game, but Tennessee was able to escape 23-17 in overtime. Gators’ true freshman and former Five-Star Plus+ recruit DJ Lagway threw a touchdown pass with 30 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to force overtime. After Florida kicked a 47-yard field goal on the first possession of overtime, Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson scored his third touchdown of the game on a 1-yard run to deliver the overtime win.

8. Washington at Iowa
Channel: FOX
Date/Time: Saturday, Oct. 12 at Noon ET
Viewers: 2.4 million

Kaleb Johnson rushed for 166 yards and finished with three touchdowns as Iowa handed Washington a 40-16 loss. The win marked Kirk Ferentz’s 200th victory at Iowa. Ferentz moved into sole possession of second place on the Big Ten’s all-time wins list, five behind Ohio State’s Woody Hayes. The Hawkeyes improved to 4-2 on the season and 2-1 in the Big Ten, as Washington fell to 2-2 in league play.