{
  "id": 7803261,
  "title": "College Football Viewership Off to Hot Start After Texas-Ohio State Thriller",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/college-football-viewership-off-to-hot-start-after-texas-ohio-state",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-16T14:32:24.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Front Office Sports",
    "slug": "front-office-sports",
    "url": "https://frontofficesports.com/article/college-football-viewership-off-to-hot-start-after-texas-ohio-state-thriller/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The college football season is off to a strong start in TV ratings, with Texas and Ohio State delivering record viewership numbers for a second consecutive year. ABC averaged nearly 14 million viewers for their Week 2 showdown between the Buckeyes and Longhorns, with the Texas team overcoming a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter to claim a 24-23 victory in Austin. This marks the most-watched Week 2 college football game on record, and the highest-rated regular-season matchup on an ESPN platform in a decade, peaking at 16.4 million viewers. Last year's Texas-Ohio State game in Columbus drew 16.6 million viewers on Fox, setting the record for the most-watched Week 1 college football game on record as freshman Arch Manning made an impressive debut. The Buckeyes won 14-7, with viewership peaking at 18.6 million. In the other Big Ten-SEC matchup on Saturday, Fox drew 8.2 million viewers for Michigan's 17-10 victory over Oklahoma in Ann Arbor, up more than 31% compared to Fox's average Big Noon Saturday game in 2025 but down from 9.7 million viewers for last year's Michigan-Oklahoma matchup in Norman. The most-watched game of Week 1 action so far was Notre Dame's 41-13 victory over Wisconsin, which drew 8.1 million viewers on NBC. Despite being the most anticipated season-opening matchup, LSU's 51-10 blowout win over Clemson averaged just 5.8 million viewers, as kickoff was delayed by two hours due to weather. Last year's LSU-Clemson matchup in South Carolina was among three Week 1 games on ABC to draw more than 10 million viewers. Head coach Lane Kiffin returns to Oxford this weekend for his first game at Ole Miss as he leads the LSU Tigers against the No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels. ABC will broadcast the primetime matchup on Saturday.",
  "summary": "ABC averaged nearly 14 million viewers on Saturday night.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}