The Week 5 slate in college football is headlined by two enormous matchups -- No. 6 Oregon at No. 3 Penn State, and No. 17 Alabama at No. 5 Georgia. Those will not only be big games within the Big Ten and the SEC, but also massive contests between the Big Ten and the SEC. Ducks-Nittany Lions and Crimson Tide-Bulldogs will compete head-to-head at 7:30 p.m. ET; the former airs on NBC, the latter on ABC.
So far, in the battle for eyeballs between college football's two super-conferences, 2025 is picking up where 2024 left off. The SEC is winning. Of the 10 most-watched games through the first quarter of the 2025 regular season, the only contest not to involve the SEC was the standalone Sunday night clash between Notre Dame and Miami.
Though it's early, the 2025 viewership data offers plenty of points on both sides in the ongoing chicken-egg debate surrounding Fox's "Big Noon" window. On the one hand, not only is Texas-Ohio State the most-watched game of the season so far, it's the most-watched Week 1 game in college football history. Only six college football games reached 16 million pairs of eyeballs last season, and the earliest of those six was played Dec. 7.
However, the counterpoint to that argument is that Texas at Ohio State -- the singularity of Arch Manning's debut against the defending national champions -- would've drawn a massive audience at 11:30 p.m. on a Tuesday. For further evidence, Horns-Buckeyes is Big Noon's, and Fox's, only appearance on the list. Subsequent Big Noon games drew 4.28 million (Iowa-Iowa State), 2.3 million (Oregon-Northwestern), and 4.04 million (Texas Tech-Utah) viewers. Meanwhile, ABC draws 6+ million viewers like clockwork at 3:30 and 7:30 each Saturday.
Oddly, this chicken-egg argument is a self-fulfilling prophecy for Fox. When Ohio State-Penn State and Ohio State-Michigan inevitably draw 10- and 15-million viewers, it will be seen as proof that the public is more than willing to make time for Big Noon, no matter how loudly the naysayers whine. And when the SEC and ACC put up big numbers in the ABC prime time game, Fox and the Big Ten will shrug their shoulders and say, "See? There's too much competition in the afternoon and at night. We have no choice but to put our biggest games at noon."
So, when the numbers for Oregon-Penn State and Alabama-Georgia come in during the middle of next week, Fox will be quietly rooting for the SEC to beat the Big Ten.
Top 10 appearances by conference
SEC: 12
ACC: 4
Big Ten: 2
Notre Dame: 2
Top 10 by network
ABC: 8
Fox, NBC: 1
Top 10 by time slot
Noon: 1
Afternoon: 3
Night: 6
Top 10 CFB TV Audiences, Week 0-4
1. Texas-Ohio State -- 16.62 million (Fox)
2. Georgia-Tennessee -- 12.58 million (ABC)
3. Notre Dame-Miami -- 10.8 million (ABC)
4. Florida State-Alabama -- 10.66 million (ABC)
5. LSU-Clemson -- 10.45 million (ABC)
6. Michigan-Oklahoma -- 9.67 million (ABC)
7. Florida-LSU -- 7.64 million (ABC)
8. Florida-Miami -- 6.46 million (ABC)
9. Texas A&M-Notre Dame -- 6.2 million (NBC)
10. Auburn-Oklahoma -- 6.12 million (ABC)
All data via Sports Media Watch