College football is a sport of constant competition. Sure, the games are limited to Saturdays in the fall (and weeknights in December and January). But programs compete 24/7/365 through recruiting, and similarly, fans argue for team and conference supremacy around the clock through a message board culture that is pervasive throughout the sport. Every piece of data is ammunition, including TV ratings.
While the first half numbers through 2025 are a continuation of what we saw last season (Disney won big by going all-in on the SEC), the bottom line is that, right now, everyone is winning in the college football TV space. The Texas at Ohio State clash was the biggest opener on record, but numbers are up across the board. By this point last season, one game had topped 10 million viewers. This year, six have. Similarly, the number of 8+ million audiences (four to nine), 6+ million audiences (12 to 19), and 5+ million audiences (16 to 24) have all seen significant growth.
Much like the AP Top 25, the SEC's strength is not seen through its superiority at the top, but through its depth. Though Alabama is on pace to once again be college football's most-watched team, 14 of the SEC's 16 programs made at least one appearance in the top 25 (poor Arkansas and Mississippi State). Contrast that with the Big Ten, where 10 of the 18 teams did not crack the top 25. This comes as college football's richest conference is set to vote on a $2.4 billion deal with the University of California pension fund that would distribute unequal 8- and 9-figure checks to the B1G schools in exchange for an extension of the Grant of Rights for 20 more years. Frankly, that seems like a better deal for the Minnesotas and the Marylands than Ohio State and Michigan.
Elsewhere, the ACC holds its own with eight appearances, even more impressive on its face considering all the ABC real estate that the SEC occupies. However, most of the ACC's appearances came through non-conference games -- Notre Dame at Miami, Alabama at Florida State, LSU at Clemson, Florida at Miami. The most-watched ACC conference game to date is Miami at Florida State, 19th on the list.
The Big 12's data continues to show that the conference's big-time viewership is personality dependent. The conference that rode the Prime Effect to boffo viewership early in the 2023 season has made just one appearance thus far in 2025: the premier of the Chapel Bill disaster against TCU in an exclusive Labor Day window. The most-watched Big 12 conference game thus was Farmaggedon, which drew 4.47 million in another exclusive Week 0 window on ESPN. The league will undoubtedly hold its breath for No. 15 BYU and No. 7 Texas Tech to remain unbeaten until their Nov. 8 clash in Lubbock.
Appearances by conference
27: SEC
12: Big Ten
8: ACC
1: Big 12
Appearances by program
4: Alabama
3: Georgia, LSU, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma
2: Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Oregon, Texas
1: Clemson, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, TCU, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Washington
Appearances by time slot:
Afternoon: 10
Prime Time: 9
Noon: 3
Weeknight/Special: 3
Appearances by network:
16: ABC
3: CBS
2: ESPN, Fox, NBC
As stated previously, Fox's highly-controversial Big Noon window is often treated as a self-fulfilling prophecy. When the window wins a week, it's treated as proof that audiences are eager to watch big games at noon ET. When Big Noon loses, it's proof that the competition is too strong later in the day and so Fox has no choice but to claim noon for itself.
What's inarguable is that Big Noon used to be the most-watched package in college football, but it's not anymore. Through seven weeks, Big Noon has not shown the highest-rated game in a Saturday since Texas-Ohio State.
1. Texas-Ohio State -- 16.62 million (Fox)
2. Georgia-Tennessee -- 12.58 million (ABC)
3. Notre Dame-Miami -- 10.8 million (ABC)
4. Alabama-Georgia -- 10.42 million (ABC)
5. Alabama-Florida State -- 10.66 million (ABC)
6. LSU-Clemson -- 10.45 million (ABC)
7. Michigan-Oklahoma -- 9.67 million (ABC)
8. Oklahoma-Texas -- 8.73 million (ABC)
9. Oregon-Penn State -- 8.5 million (NBC)
10. Florida-LSU -- 7.64 million (ABC)
11. Alabama-Missouri -- 6.99 million (ABC)
12. Georgia-Auburn -- 6.69 million (ABC)
13. LSU-Ole Miss -- 6.69 million (ABC)
14. Florida-Miami -- 6.46 million (ABC)
15. Vanderbilt-Alabama -- 6.41 million (ABC)
16. Texas A&M-Notre Dame -- 6.2 million (NBC)
17. Auburn-Oklahoma -- 6.12 million (ABC)
18. TCU-North Carolina -- 6.07 million (ESPN)
19. Miami-Florida State -- 6.03 million (ABC)
20. Indiana-Oregon -- 5.59 million (CBS)
21. Virginia Tech-South Carolina -- 5.43 million (ESPN)
22. Michigan-Nebraska -- 5.3 million (CBS)
23. Ohio State-Illinois -- 5.28 million (Fox)
24. Ohio State-Washington -- 5.23 million (CBS)
25. Ole Miss-Kentucky -- 4.78 million (ABC)
Looking forward to the second half of the season, Penn State's collapse will rob Fox of a large audience for their Nov. 1 trip to Columbus. Defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Ohio State still has name brand opponents ahead (at Wisconsin, vs. Penn State, at Michigan) but does not have a currently-ranked opponent left on the schedule. Likewise, No. 3 Indiana does not have a ranked opponent ahead, and No. 8 Oregon only has No. 20 USC left on Nov. 22.
Meanwhile, No. 5 Ole Miss is an outlier in the SEC for only having two ranked opponents ahead. All eight remaining ranked SEC teams have at least three ranked opponents ahead, led by the No. 14 Oklahoma's five.
So, expect the SEC to increase its lead over the rest of the sport over the second half of this season.
(All data via Sports Media Watch. Updated to include Florida-LSU.)