Believe it or not, the first lap around the track of the 2026 college football season has been completed, and so it's time to take a look at the TV leaderboard.
In what will come as no surprise to anyone, the SEC on ABC package continues to win week after week, but it comes with an interesting asterisk. While No. 4 Texas's thrilling comeback over No. 1 Ohio State leads the pack and stands as ABC's most-watched regular season game in a decade (the 2016 Ohio State-Michigan game, naturally), the audience was 15 percent smaller than the 2025 matchup, which occurred in Columbus and aired on Fox. That game, played in Week 1 and not Week 2, drew 16.62 million, which stands as the most-watched Week 1 game, ever. (Counterpoint: Oklahoma-Michigan drew a 15 percent larger audience last in year in ABC's prime time window compared to Fox's Big Noon window this season. Both games occurred in Week 2.)
That's a continuation of the trend we spotted at the end of last season, where Ohio State/Fox saw the highest peaks, but the SEC/ABC were the more consistent draw. Last year, 10 of Alabama's 13 regular season games (including the SEC Championship) cracked the top 50. So far, Alabama is on the list twice, while three of LSU's first four games rank among the top 10 and Texas claimed two of the top three spots. Next week: No. 1 Texas vs. Oklahoma on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET, followed by No. 2 Georgia at No. 7 Alabama at night. The Horns and the Tide also have visits to LSU in November in what figure to be massive, primetime TV events.
On Saturday, Ohio State plays its first ranked opponent since the Texas game with a visit to No. 14 Iowa in the CBS mid-afternoon window, up against No. 8 Florida at No. 25 Missouri on ABC.
Appearances by time slot
Weeknight: 0
Noon: 2
Afternoon: 3
Prime time: 5*
* Includes Wisconsin-Notre Dame, which aired in a special Sunday night window. That game represented a rare head-to-head win for NBC/CBS over ABC; the Irish's blowout of the Badgers nearly doubled the Louisville-Ole Miss thriller on ABC. This past Saturday, LSU's blowout of Texas A&M attracted a million more viewers than a tight Oregon-USC game on NBC. Still, NBC has two games that have topped 5 million (the Apple Cup, also on Labor Day Sunday, was the other), while Boise State-Oregon is CBS's largest audience to date at 4.83 million.
Appearances by network
8: ABC
1: Fox, NBC
Appearances by conference
14: SEC
3: Big Ten
2: ACC
Appearances by program
3: LSU
2: Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas
1: Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Kentucky, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Wisconsin
1. Ohio State-Texas -- 13.99 million (ABC)
2. LSU-Ole Miss -- 10.9 million (ABC)
3. Texas-Tennessee -- 9.75 million (ABC)
4. Ole Miss-Florida -- 8.29 million (ABC)
5. Oklahoma-Michigan -- 8.22 million (Fox)
6. Wisconsin-Notre Dame -- 8.1 million (NBC)
7. Alabama-Kentucky -- 7.28 million (ABC)
8. Florida State-Alabama -- 7.01 million (ABC)
9. Clemson-LSU -- 5.75 million (ABC)
10. Texas A&M-LSU -- 5.71 million (ABC)
All told, numbers are down from last season, at least among the top 10 games. Six games had drawn at least 9 million viewers at this point a year ago to three in 2026. The top 10 games at this point last season drew a median of 10.06 million viewers, compared to 8.16 million in 2026.
We'll be back next month for at look at the top 25 games of the first half of this season.
Sources: Sports Media Watch, On3