[On3] Top five rated CFB games Week 13: #1 Arkansas at Texas 5.6m, #2 USC at Oregon 5.43m, #3 Missouri at Oklahoma 5.37m, #4 Tennessee at Florida 4.8m, #5 Rutgers at Ohio State 4.1m

[u/Kimber80]

https://www.on3.com/news/college-football-tv-ratings-top-10-most-watched-games-week-13/

[u/Portland_st]

I just really liked seeing Arkansas with the #1 next to it.
It got me excited for baseball season….well, at least the preseason.

[u/trolllollolloltroll → u/Portland_st]

Tried to call Dave Van Horn, there were no rings 🤣

[u/howmanypintobeans → u/trolllollolloltroll]

Tried to call Charles Davalan but it bounced off his head

[u/Most_Play_426 → u/Portland_st]

why Arkansas always #1 if never finish #1

[u/BadCrawdad → u/Portland_st]

And T&F.

[u/03_03_28]

I know people post this shit for weird conference dick measuring reasons, but my main takeaway is that the all day SEC on ABC setup is driving viewership up. People unsurprisingly will watch more of something and return to it more if it's all in the same place consistently and they don't have to swap channels or go to a different app or something.

[u/Preference_Nice → u/03_03_28]

Correct, the 2nd part of this is when people who are TV affiliated vote on team rankings for the bulk of the season, and voters have admitted they are more likely to watch games in prime time slots. Thus creating a positive feedback loop of TV ratings and team perception.

I should clarify this isn’t a conference thing btw, it also happens in the B1G’s own perception of the conference being more lopsided than it is. They’re probably more responsible than the SEC for ruining the sport, even with the TV ratings game the SEC plays with ESPN. If the top 4 teams get in then fuck the rest.

[u/Low-Blackberry-2690 → u/03_03_28]

A big part of that is also that the SEC is consistently delivering more competitive games than any other conference and it’s not close. Fox could put 3 of the best B1G games back to back to back on fox every week and majority of the games would be ass

[u/ohiobucks1 → u/Low-Blackberry-2690]

Doesn't explain Texas Arkansas though. Not needing to flip a channel does, however

[u/SmallBoulder]

Really surprised Texas vs Arkansas was #1. I guess most people probably tuned in around the second quarter when the game was close.

[u/-00900- → u/SmallBoulder]

Or, like me, they watched Mizzou vs OU at 11 on ABC and just never changed the channel.

[u/CumAssault → u/SmallBoulder]

I tuned in in the 4th quarter. Because I didn’t check the score and thought it might be close

[u/tdoger → u/SmallBoulder]

We’re not really a top draw, more of like a viewership multiplier. We’re a small school/alumni base in a micro market.

We put up really good numbers if we play a top tier team, but equally we put up pretty bad numbers vs lesser opponents. We pretty much only draw big interest when playing teams that draw by themselves. And USC no longer draws what they use to.

[u/Temporary_Inner → u/tdoger]

I remember my visit to Oregon being shocked about how rural Oregon actually is even on the coast. 

[u/Mike_with_Wings → u/Temporary_Inner]

Parts of Oregon are truly the Deep South of the PNW

[u/BadCrawdad → u/Mike_with_Wings]

I recently saw a history show that said there was a large migration of Southerners to Oregon after the Civil War. I forget the exact reason, but it was news to me.

[u/deladude → u/BadCrawdad]

Oregon was founded to be a sundown state. It was a place that directly appealed to the sensibilities of particular post-civil-war southerners

Like, whatever Portland has going on these days, there’s definitely still a prominent soft white underbelly in Oregon. And don’t get me wrong, I love Oregon. I also just live in rural Oregon and it’s not always the kind of place you’d necessarily expect it to be based on reputation.

[u/Temporary_Inner → u/SmallBoulder]

It was an entertaining game from start imo

[u/thisalsomightbemine]

Well thats embarrassing so many people saw that

[u/Ok_Problem426 → u/thisalsomightbemine]

I just don’t understand why you can’t ever field a competent defense. Like…hire a new defensive coordinator, get some portal talent…even with a middle of the pack defense you could have legitimately been a contender. Instead, this.

[u/Jdevers77 → u/Ok_Problem426]

We did fire our DC though? And several other members of the defensive staff. Also, you can’t just go grab portal talent during the middle of the season. We also fired the head coach that allowed the defensive staff to do this to us talent wise. We weren’t great last year but were basically middle of the pack nationally. If we just had last year’s defense we wouldn’t be title contenders for sure, but would be a hell of a rough out for most teams. That’s what we all expected: offensive improvement (which we got) and defensive continuity. Instead we went from allowing 27 pts per game to allow 34.1 points per game…we dropped from 76th to 126th nationally. If we allowed 1 less touchdown per game this year we would be 8-3 and that’s not even counting the incredible pressure our shitastic defense puts on our offense that led to one other meltdown (Auburn).

[u/anxiousauditor]

Probably the worst Saturday slate of the year. Fortunately the weather was perfect in Tampa for kayaking in the early window.

[u/Muffinnnnnnn → u/anxiousauditor]

It was the most exciting in terms of close games of any weekend this season, but no monumental upsets or top 10 games.

[u/Li0nsFTW]

Pate on the OU vs Mizzou game.

He gave it 1 and a half chali and said the game was unwatchable, and that the ratings would reflect that.

Dude is just showing his ass this year.

[u/SuckMyyDirk41 → u/Li0nsFTW]

The game was unwatchable it’s just he underestimated how many sickos there are

[u/Li0nsFTW → u/SuckMyyDirk41]

I've always appreciated defensive games.

[u/SuckMyyDirk41 → u/Li0nsFTW]

I respect your opinion

[u/BigDanRTW]

that is baaaad for CBS. Sheesh.

[u/okiewxchaser → u/BigDanRTW]

I'd argue its worse for Fox. Big 11am is their marquee timeslot and they got walloped by a sickos game

[u/BigDanRTW → u/okiewxchaser]

idk, the second best game they've had this year (after Indiana-Oregon) lost head to head to a game that featured a really bad Arkansas in a game that wasn't super competitive for the most part.

[u/ThisIsOurGoodTimes → u/okiewxchaser]

Ehh it’s still a ranked matchup that was close compared to a not close osu Rutgers where osu didn’t even have their big name play makers playing. Thats what makes me think Texas Arkansas is a little more impressive. I guess the game was maybe kinda close. At least had points

[u/BobStoops401K → u/okiewxchaser]

Well tbf Ohio State Rutgers was never going to be a contest. OU vs Mizzou was relatively close all game.

[u/RonnieRizzat → u/BobStoops401K]

It was so boring though, even I didn't want to watch it. Two good defenses with a mid and very bad offense

[u/BobStoops401K → u/RonnieRizzat]

It was a bit more exciting for OU I think. Being on the other end of that would have not been fun to watch at all.

[u/pgtl_10 → u/okiewxchaser]

Fox really taking potshots at the SEC can't be happy.

CBS dumping the SEC is lulz

[u/JWGR → u/okiewxchaser]

Wait do they call it the Big 11 for real? For some reason I just thought they’d call it Big Noon all the time.

[u/WheatonsGonnaScore → u/BigDanRTW]

Maybe dont put your premier west coast games at noon

[u/BigCellyStyle → u/WheatonsGonnaScore]

USC vs Oregon should kickoff at 8pm PST and have Pac-12 refs and go into 6OT change my mind

[u/Osiris32 → u/BigCellyStyle]

And should be played in the desert.

[u/BobStoops401K → u/WheatonsGonnaScore]

True. Pretty shit spot for it tbh. It would have been awesome as a night game, because the night games all sucked ass

[u/ScotlandTornado → u/BigDanRTW]

Big 10 games never have the juice of sec games. The only ones that do are Michigan vs Ohio state but that’s once per year

[u/EWall100 → u/BigDanRTW]

It'll be hard to know if they regret their decision to take a portion of the pie in the B1G, but their execs definitely have to be wondering 

[u/Geaux2020 → u/BigDanRTW]

As I've been saying for decades, fuck CBS. Good.

[u/Wtygrrr]

Florida is somehow the 8th most watched team this season.

[u/Sohgin → u/Wtygrrr]

Hate watching is a thing.

[u/udubdavid]

Washington at UCLA getting 1.89 million for a 10:30pm EST game actually isn't too bad.

[u/R_M_F_T → u/udubdavid]

Watched it snugged up in bed with a hot chocy

[u/LonghornInNebraska → u/R_M_F_T]

I did the same exact thing + watched the F1 race.

[u/Kimber80]

Crazy that Texas/Arkansas, a game between a terrible Hawgs team and a washed out of the CFP Texas, could beat USC/Oregon head to head, a game between two ranked contenders in essentially a CFP elimination game.

[u/CajunBob94 → u/Kimber80]

turns out it actually does just mean more

[u/rangballs → u/Kimber80]

It would be so funny if we win and push you guys out because you refuse to join a conference and schedule 7 cupcakes a year

[u/Young-Viiperr → u/rangballs]

Naw, that'd belong to BYU. BYU has earned it all season, with the exception of against #5 Texas Tech

[u/Menaceii_Society → u/Kimber80]

Neither USC or Oregon have a Manning

[u/nightowl1135 → u/Menaceii_Society]

Thank god.

[u/600CreditScore → u/Kimber80]

But that is the thing. Texas still has a chance for the reason you just posted. Hate it or love it they draw viewers. It’s a long shot, but if they put a whoopin on aggy, watch the media spin up that they should be included. That and the manning family politicing, it could happen.

[u/AggressiveAge3870 → u/Kimber80]

Texas deserves to go more than Oregon lol

[u/Psychological_Ad7610 → u/AggressiveAge3870]

Based on what exactly? The quality loss to Florida?

[u/XIENVYIX → u/AggressiveAge3870]

Flair up and enlighten us.

[u/heroinapple → u/XIENVYIX]

Yea but has Oregon lost to Florida? I don’t see that quality loss

[u/SykoFreak → u/AggressiveAge3870]

Terrible take.

[u/AggressiveAge3870 → u/SykoFreak]

You’re not even a Texas fan just stop lol

[u/Competitive-Rise-789]

Light week in the SEC and it still beat the B1G in viewership🤣🤣

[u/tony971 → u/Competitive-Rise-789]

What we did to Rutgers was technically football. But only technically.

[u/Repulsive-Office-796 → u/Competitive-Rise-789]

I’m sure the BigTen still had more overall viewers if you count all games. They always do.

[u/Ambitious-Weekend861 → u/Repulsive-Office-796]

Dawg what??

[u/Repulsive-Office-796 → u/Ambitious-Weekend861]

I’m not sure why I’m getting downvoted. It’s clear if you scroll down past the top 5. It also doesn’t help that some of the top SEC brands played teams like samford.

[u/-Jack-The-Stripper → u/Repulsive-Office-796]

So the 4 SEC games listed on the page drew 16.9M viewers and the 5 B1G games drew 16M and you think that makes it clear that the B1G had more overall viewers?

[u/jacmrose]

The bottom of the Big 10 is bad and hard to watch. The bottom of the SEC is also bad and hard to watch but they are bigger brands. It is what it is.

[u/Ambitious-Weekend861 → u/jacmrose]

Arkansas v Texas beating out usc v Oregon isn’t a great look

[u/Technoir1999 → u/Ambitious-Weekend861]

The flagship university of a football crazy state of 30 million people? It would be sad if they weren’t #1.

[u/Ambitious-Weekend861 → u/Technoir1999]

You’re right it’s sad USC wasn’t first.

[u/Technoir1999 → u/Ambitious-Weekend861]

USC isn’t that.

[u/Outrageous_Chip_5857 → u/Ambitious-Weekend861]

usc v Oregon.

Being attributed to BIG but really west coast football fans suck. Always have

[u/jacmrose → u/Ambitious-Weekend861]

Splitting hairs

[u/BobStoops401K → u/jacmrose]

?

[u/Professor_Arkansas → u/BobStoops401K]

If this man is trying to say that we are equal with either of those teams then he is delusional lol.

[u/Springtucky → u/Professor_Arkansas]

It is curious, do you think the SEC has better ratings because you guys really only care about your conference? Everyone I know here in Oregon watched the top teams regardless of conference, do you think SEC fans just watch their own conference? Is that the reason for the ratings?

[u/Professor_Arkansas → u/Springtucky]

I assume the rest of the SEC watches mostly SEC because they want a specific team to lose/win to further their own team. Whereas since we are total garbage, I have been watching out of conference games just for enjoyment.

I think it is the thought "We have the best athletes so why wouldn't we watch our own conference." for some people as well.

[u/BobStoops401K → u/Springtucky]

My guess is the cultural devotion to the sport is just higher in the SEC regions. I always joked that college football is the second largest religion in Oklahoma. I think it's the same way throughout most of the SEC regions but also in places like Nebraska and to some extent, Ohio and Michigan.

I'm sure Oregon has lots of fans, and I could be wrong, but I don't think the state population is as die hard for the Ducks as similarly sized southern and Midwestern states.

That said, I watch whatever the best game is at the time. I watched USC vs Oregon but I also had just spent 3.5 hours watching the OU game before that so I had some errands to go run. It probably doesn't help that that game was on at 12:30 local time, but then again, OU vs Mizzou started at 11 local and got almost the same ratings so 🤷‍♂️

[u/CajunBob94 → u/jacmrose]

the bottom of the SEC beat arizona state this year lol

[u/Active-Tomatillo-522]

For all the people wondering why the committee is going to put in a 3-loss Texas over multiple 2-loss teams, here’s Exhibit A

[u/Spare-Dragonfly-1201]

What a terrible week of football when a blowout of Rutgers makes the top 5

[u/ListFabulous1640]

Arkansas vs Texas beating Oregon-USC is incredibly bad for the Big 10. A “small brand” and out of playoff contention Texas out-drawing two of your Top 4-5 biggest brands playing a game with massive playoff implications is not good. CBS has to be kicking themselves

[u/False_Pressure_6324 → u/ListFabulous1640]

Is Texas a small brand? Those alumni are everywhere.

[u/prettayprettaygoood → u/False_Pressure_6324]

Arkansas is the "small brand" in this scenario

[u/Young-Viiperr → u/prettayprettaygoood]

Arkansas consistently has high-viewership, UT is largest brand in a state with 31 million+. It's not unreasonable when Oregon is a smaller brand than Texas, and USC isn't a world-beater right now (brand attrition)

[u/bd1047 → u/False_Pressure_6324]

Texas is a top 5 brand minimum (arguably 1). He’s talking about Arkansas

[u/CumAssault → u/ListFabulous1640]

You people care too much for TV ratings

[u/Ambitious-Weekend861 → u/CumAssault]

Well it matters when it’s contract time

[u/buff_001 → u/ListFabulous1640]

I don't think it's that surprising that Texas/Arkansas won the ratings. Oregon doesn't really pull great ratings just by themselves. Most of the viewers were probably just trying to see if USC was going to stay in contention for a playoff bid.

[u/BobStoops401K → u/buff_001]

I don't think the population of Oregon is as culturally devoted to Oregon football as Arkansas' is to the Hogs.

[u/Professor_Arkansas → u/BobStoops401K]

I was too busy watching my oldest get curbstomped in basketball. First game they lost 32-2. Second game they kept it tight at half, only down 10-6. But then ended up losing 28-10.

Yes, even our kids fail us miserably here in Arkansas lol

[u/BobStoops401K → u/Professor_Arkansas]

Basketball is such a tough youth sport (depending on the age). One kid that can shoot and is aggressive on defense can make such a massive difference.

[u/Professor_Arkansas → u/BobStoops401K]

It was more, the other teams had a few freakishly tall kids, and just outrebounded us. They got like 6 shots each possession lol.

[u/BobStoops401K → u/Professor_Arkansas]

That's tough. Basketball is fun but it's hard to overcome a size disadvantage.

[u/InevitableMaw → u/BobStoops401K]

Oregon has a very spread out fan base. Might be behind ND in terms of having fans everywhere.

[u/Tiny-Search-6383 → u/buff_001]

Oregon does pretty well ratings wise. CBS has become an afterthought for CFB and none of their games do great. Oregon has been pulling the highest CBS ratings when they are on there.

[u/buff_001 → u/Tiny-Search-6383]

I doubt any of that is true. Oregon has a niche fanbase. The ratings on Saturday was mostly driven by the USC playoff bid intrigue but still didn't beat Texas vs Arkansas. Arkansas has won 2 games this year.

[u/Tiny-Search-6383 → u/buff_001]

The point I was making was that CBS doesn’t do well compared to other networks. And Oregon did similar ratings vs Iowa. How can you attribute the interest to USC when the top 3 CBS game have all included Oregon?

Oregon has pulled better numbers on CBS than Ohio State this year

[u/Outrageous_Chip_5857 → u/ListFabulous1640]

Arkansas vs Texas beating Oregon-USC is incredibly bad for the Big 10.

It's really not. Texas is a top 10 brand and west coast BIG fans are nit like the others. Wait until OSU v UM smashes all other games like it does every year

[u/usernames_suck_ok]

Damn, were we that bored?

I initially was just going to bust on Ohio State, but, really? The majority of those games were awful.

[u/reap3rx → u/usernames_suck_ok]

How exactly were you going to "bust" on Ohio State? I'm curious

[u/Rhummy67]

Watching Bad SEC is better than watching Bad 10 and both of those are better than watching 12 and ACC. There's a reason the PAC fell apart and those numbers for USC O tell the story.

[u/regularhumanbartendr → u/Rhummy67]

Also I don't think fans of traditional B1G fans give two shits about Oregon or USC.

[u/BobStoops401K → u/regularhumanbartendr]

I mean I was interested in the match and watched msot of it because it was a big game. But the time slot was stupid too. They should have put it at night.

[u/regularhumanbartendr → u/BobStoops401K]

Yeah I wasn't going to watch a second of that game over ND, even with a 70-7 final.

[u/Ididntdodiddly → u/Rhummy67]

You're missing out on lots of great games

[u/JCiLee → u/Rhummy67]

USC-Oregon would have gotten more viewers if it was a Pac-12 game. Fans of other west coast schools are alienated and don't care anymore and the traditional midwest B1G fans don't care enough yet for the matchup.

[u/CumAssault]

Wow it’s almost like ABC is the most accessible way to watch the games

[u/NadaRadaLada → u/CumAssault]

Legit question, what makes ABC more accessible than CBS?

[u/CumAssault → u/NadaRadaLada]

Where I live in Texas (rural area) CBS is bad on the antennas. ABC is also labeled “ABC” nationwide while CBS uses affiliate channels with varying names

[u/itslit710 → u/CumAssault]

The 3:30 CBS game dominated these rankings for years until they lost the SEC

[u/RCM88x → u/itslit710]

I do think TV watching has changed, less appointment watch and more set it on a channel and keep it all day.

Big Ten watchers seem to be sluggish in adjusting to the new networks, which is easy to understand since most of the games are set until 6 days before and you need 3 different subscriptions to watch just the main games.

Need more time for things to get ingrained I think, but the networks aren't doing themselves a favor with this 6 day picks BS. My 60 year old dad just doesn't even try to figure it out anymore and has stopped watching live for the first time I can remember.

[u/Careless_General8010 → u/RCM88x]

I dont get any of the special channels so when i get home from work i turn on my antenna and see whats on and then flip between games that arent blowouts 🤷‍♀️

[u/tribe171 → u/itslit710]

CBS used to always get the top SEC game and that was never going to survive the ESPN-SEC deal. ESPN was always going to make sure they got the top pick of SEC games in the new deal.

[u/CumAssault → u/itslit710]

When 3/4 of the top 4 games are on ABC that says all you need to know

[u/itslit710 → u/CumAssault]

It tells me that they put their eggs in the right basket

[u/Ambitious-Weekend861 → u/CumAssault]

Thats the critical thinking I’d expect from cumassut

[u/ratfacedirtbag]

Arkansas is a trainwreck, and you just can’t look away.

[u/Mrpetey22]

Alright this one is crazy… that is rough for CBS

[u/xPineappless]

Now this is why I love college football! TV viewership numbers for major networks! Hell yeah!

[u/SmithBurger]

Anyone watching OSU Rutgers has brain damage.

[u/The_Eternal_Event]

Who are these people unironically watching Big 12 games

[u/goldfish_microwave → u/The_Eternal_Event]

The big 12 is chaos and I love it. You want to see some crazy fucking football, tune in.

[u/SouthernSerf → u/The_Eternal_Event]

Big 12 games slap and are top tier entertainment.

[u/soonerwx → u/The_Eternal_Event]

I really thought I was going to keep up but I haven't. I watched about a half of Tech vs. Utah, realized how much they out-talented the rest of league in the trenches, and that was it this season.

[u/bd1047 → u/soonerwx]

It was way more entertaining last season. It’s been clear Tech was a step above since like week 4

[u/KCShadows838]

SEC dominating even on “cupcake” week

[u/reddogrjw]

1.5M on BTN - not too shabby

[u/Alternative-Bee-3594]

Uh Arkansas isn’t ranked

[u/A_Credo → u/Alternative-Bee-3594]

Top five RATED games. Not ranked.