SEC, Big Ten championship games deliver for CBS, Fox

The CFP-defining SEC Championship delivered 15.3 million viewers for CBS on late Saturday afternoon, as Alabama throttled Georgia 41-24. That marks the most-watched title game for any conference since the same teams played in the '18 SEC Championship. Bama-UGA in the '12 title game averaged 16.2 million. This year’s game is up sharply from just 8.9 million for Bama-Florida last year, which was played in late December due to COVID and aired in primetime up against NFL game competition. Two years ago, LSU-UGA averaged 13.7 million.

HAIL TO THE VICTORS: Michigan’s first appearance in the Big Ten title game on Saturday night delivered 11.7 million viewers as the Wolverines easily handled Iowa 42-3. That delivered Fox a primetime win among all networks. This year’s number is down from 13.6 million for Ohio State-Wisconsin in '19, but up from 8 million for OSU-Northwestern in late December last year. Saturday night was just the fourth Big Ten Championship to top 10 million viewers since it launched in '11.

PUNCHING THEIR TICKET: ABC had a tripleheader of title games on Saturday. The net drew 8 million for the Big 12 at noon ET, as Baylor held off Oklahoma State at the goal line for a close win. That’s down from 8.7 million two years ago for Oklahoma-Baylor, but up from just under 3 million for OU-Iowa State last year in late December. After that, Cincinnati punched its ticket to the CFP semifinals with a win over Houston in the AAC title game. ABC drew 3.415 million for that game, marking a record for The American, which launched its game in '15.

ACC GAME TAKES A HIT: In primetime, just 2.7 million viewers watched Pitt’s win over Wake Forest, which is the third-lowest figure for the ACC Championship since it started in '05, and lowest among the ACC title games that have aired on ABC (only two ESPN games were lower). Clemson-Notre Dame last year delivered 10.2 million. Meanwhile, Friday night’s Pac-12 Championship averaged 4.2 million for Utah-Oregon, down from 5.9 million two years ago for the same matchup. The COVID-shifted game last year averaged 3.8 million (Oregon-USC).