ESPN pulls in massive Week 4 audience, including nearly 13 million for Texas-Tennessee
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Week 4’s college football slate across ESPN’s networks featured Arch Manning and top-ranked Texas‘s win at Tennessee, a statement win for Jon Sumrall as Florida routed Ole Miss at the Swamp, and Lane Kiffin‘s LSU bouncing back from a loss to the Rebels to hand Texas A&M a second straight defeat.
All three broadcasts on ABC pulled in stellar ratings on Saturday. Texas-Tennessee was the highest-rated of the three, averaging 9.7 million viewers and peaking at 12.9 million. It was the ESPN networks’ highest-rated noon kickoff in 10 years and the highest-rated noon game of the season, regardless of network.
Florida-Ole Miss was a 3:30 kickoff from Gainesville and ended up pulling in 8.3 million viewers on average. It hit a peak rating of 9.1 million viewers. And LSU-Texas A&M averaged 5.7 million viewers, with a peak of seven million.
Week 5’s slate on ABC has an intriguing showdown at noon ET between two of the better quarterbacks of the season so far. Keelon Russell and Alabama will travel to Starkville to face Kamario Taylor and Mississippi State. Tennessee hosts Auburn, a 3:30 kickoff from Rocky Top on ABC, while Mizzou-Florida is on ABC.
In primetime, Clemson hosts Miami, with a 7:30 kickoff on ABC.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
