SEC football fans have something else to brag about as September gives way to October.
As far as the 2026 goes, the first full month of the season belonged to the SEC when it comes to overall ratings. The numbers that were revealed on Friday afternoon proclaim loudly and proudly that the SEC was the most-watched conference in college football during the month of September.
According to the numbers that were revealed by the Southeastern Conference social media account, 41% of the minutes watched in September belonged to the SEC.
There were 24 SEC-controlled games on TV during the month, while the rest of college football had 129 games on TV. Despite that, the SEC still earned that 41% of the ratings pie.
The SEC had 4.8 million in average viewership for games involving the conference during September. It all added up to an astronomical 22.6 billion minutes watched, meaning there were a ton of people watching a ton of games involving SEC teams during the month of September.
Of the 10 highest-rated college football games in the month, 9 of them had at least 1 SEC team involved. The most-watched game had 1 SEC team involved, with it being the Week 2 primetime matchup on ABC between Texas and Ohio State in Austin. That mega showdown had 14.0 million viewers.
Not surprisingly, the 2nd-most-watched game of the month was Lane Kiffin‘s return to Oxford in Week 3, when Ole Miss defeated his LSU team in a primetime showdown that was also on ABC. That highly anticipated game pulled in 10.9 million viewers.
Here is the complete top 10 ratings list that is filled with SEC teams:
As the SEC has plenty of eyeballs on it, as usual, there is an SEC championship to win in December. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the best odds to bring home the conference trophy:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
