ABC earned a 5.9 overnight Nielsen rating for the Notre Dame-Oklahoma on Saturday night, marking the best overnight for any college football telecast this season to date. That figure was ahead of CBS’ Florida-Georgia game on Saturday afternoon, which drew a 4.6 overnight in the 3:30pm ET window. That 4.6 rating, however, was CBS' best for the matchup since a 4.8 overnight in '09, and up 21% from last year's overnight. ESPN’s top-rated college game of the weekend was Tennessee-South Carolina in the 12:00pm window, which drew a 2.8 overnight, ahead of the net’s 2.5 rating for Ohio State-Penn State in the 3:30pm window (Austin Karp, THE DAILY). In Oklahoma City, Mel Bracht wrote the second half of ABC’s Notre Dame-Oklahoma broadcast “turned into a Notre Dame lovefest,” as Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit “piled superlatives on the Fighting Irish.” Musburger “spent a lot of time campaigning” for Notre Dame LB Manti Te’o as a Heisman Trophy candidate. After Te’o intercepted OU QB Landry Jones in the fourth quarter, Musburger said, “This could be a Heisman moment for the young man” (OKLAHOMAN, 10/28). Meanwhile, in Tampa, Tom Jones writes CBS “was superb” for the Florida-Georgia game, and analyst Gary Danielson “had his best day of the season.” Danielson’s analysis was “spot-on all day, and he was excellent in his anticipation” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 10/29).
