ABC earned a 5.5 overnight Nielsen rating for Stanford’s OT win over Oregon on Saturday night, marking the best college football rating of the weekend. The net also earned a 3.2 overnight for regional coverage in the 3:30pm ET window, which featured Ohio State-Wisconsin and N.C. State-Clemson. Fox earned a 2.7 overnight for USC-UCLA in that same window, which was just ahead of CBS’ 2.4 overnight for Ole Miss-LSU. On cable, ESPN’s primetime window featuring Kansas State-Baylor led the way with a 2.2 overnight. NBC earned a 1.7 overnight for Notre Dame’s blowout win over Wake Forest, marking the net’s lowest Notre Dame overnight this season (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
APPEALING MATCHUP ... RIGHT NOW: USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand writes losses on Saturday by Kansas State and Oregon "should lead to this season's title game getting record TV ratings." The current mark was set with the '06 Texas-USC game, which drew a 21.7 rating. However, that "could be topped" with a potential matchup of Notre Dame and the winner of the Alabama-Georgia SEC Championship game. ESPN is televising this weekend's Notre Dame-USC game, and Hiestand writes network execs "will try to stay publicly neutral, but they're all wearing Irish T-shirts under their suits" (USA TODAY, 11/19). SI.com's Richard Deitsch writes, "The sound you hear from Bristol, Conn., is ESPN executives rooting hard for Notre Dame." An appearance by the Irish in the BCS title game "sets up for monster ratings if Alabama is the opponent." The Texas-USC numbers "are likely out of reach even with a month of ESPN hype, but the popularity of Notre Dame as a television team will be a massive draw." Deitsch: "If the game is close late, watch out" (SI.com, 11/19).
HEAR NO EVIL, SEE NO EVIL: In Oklahoma City, Mel Bracht wrote Fox' Craig Bolerjack, Joel Klatt and Petros Papadakis "did a good job of capturing the ebb and flow" of Oklahoma's 50-49 win over West Virginia, but they "virtually ignored the ugly antics of West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen." During a timeout toward the end of the first half, Holgorsen "shouted an obscenity that clearly was caught by a live microphone." He said, "Everybody run in the (expletive) end zone." Bolerjack said on the broadcast, "Emotional to say the least." Bracht noted Bolerjack "offered no apology for the network airing the obscenity" (OKLAHOMAN, 11/18). ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said when a coach “attacks a guy and you make it personal and you go after him, there’s cameras on you in 2012. Whether you respect that or you don’t, the reality is no matter what you’re saying it gives off an impression and a vibe that is disrespectful.” ESPN’s Desmond Howard said Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman supported coach Bo Pelini after Pelini had a heated exchange with a player on the sidelines during a game earlier this year Perlman “blamed the media for having a camera on a coach" ("College GameDay,” ESPN, 11/17).
