NFL Wild Card games dominated overnight Nielsen ratings for sports over the weekend. NBC’s doubleheader on Saturday even gave a boost to “SNL,” which earned a 7.4 overnight for the episode hosted by Charles Barkley with musical guest Kelly Clarkson. That figure marked the highest overnight for the show since an episode hosted by Jim Carrey with musical guest The Black Keys on Jan. 8, 2011. Fox’ AT&T Cotton Bowl broadcast topped all bowl games over the weekend with a 4.7 rating for the Arkansas-Kansas State matchup, delivering Fox a win in primetime on Friday. However, that figure is down 19% from the LSU-Texas A&M matchup last year. ESPN earned a 1.5 overnight for Saturday afternoon’s BBVA Compass Bowl featuring SMU-Pitt, down 37.5% from last year’s Pitt-Kentucky game. ESPN also earned a 1.2 overnight for last night’s GoDaddy.com Bowl featuring Northern Illinois-Arkansas State, flat compared to last year’s Miami (OH)-Middle Tennessee State game.
The chart below lists overnight Nielsen ratings from weekend sports telecasts on broadcast TV.
| TELECAST | DATE | NET | TIME (ET) | RAT. |
| AT&T Cotton Bowl: Arkansas-Kansas State | 1/6 | Fox | 8:30pm-12:15am | 4.7 |
| "ESPN Sports Saturday" | 1/7 | ABC | 4:00-6:00pm | 0.5 |
| Off Road Racing: Lucas Oil Challenge Cup (taped) | 1/7 | CBS | 1:00-2:00pm | 0.5 |
NCAA Women's Basketball:
Michigan State-Penn State | 1/7 | CBS | 2:00-4:00pm | 0.4 |
| NCAA Women's Basketball: UConn-Notre Dame | 1/7 | CBS | 4:00-6:00pm | 0.8 |
| U.S. Army All-American Bowl | 1/7 | NBC | 1:00-4:00pm | 1.2 |
| "Football Night in America" | 1/7 | NBC | 4:00-4:30pm | 5.3 |
| AFC Wild Card: Texans-Bengals | 1/7 | NBC | 4:30-8:00pm | 15.3 |
| NFC Wild Card: Saints-Lions | 1/7 | NBC | 8:00-11:30pm | 19.3 |
| NCAA Basketball: Wisconsin-Michigan | 1/8 | CBS | 1:30-4:00pm | 0.6 |
| "The NFL Today" | 1/8 | CBS | 4:00-4:30pm | 12.2 |
| AFC Wild Card: Broncos-Steelers | 1/8 | CBS | 4:30-8:15pm | 25.9 |
| "Fox NFL Sunday" | 1/8 | Fox | 12:00-1:00pm | 4.7 |
| NFC Wild Card: Giants-Falcons | 1/8 | Fox | 1:00-4:30pm | 18.9 |
| PBR: MSG Invitational (taped) | 1/8 | NBC | 2:30-4:00pm | 0.6 |
| Progressive Skating & Gymnastics Spectacular (taped) | 1/8 | NBC | 4:00-6:00pm | 0.9 |
