ESPN Aired Six of Top 10 Most-Viewed College Football Games

ESPN networks notched a banner viewership week as the 2022 college football season moved past its midpoint, delivering six of the top 10 most-viewed games of Week 8 and the top college football games in the noon, afternoon, primetime and late prime windows. In addition, ABC won the noon and afternoon windows across all networks.

ABC aired the top two games of Week 8 and the most-viewed game in the noon and afternoon windows. Across all three games, ABC averaged 4.3 million viewers, the network’s most-watched college football Saturday since Week 1 and up double digits from 2021’s Week 8.

Syracuse and Clemson’s clash in Death Valley registered 4.7 million viewers – a top-five regular-season noon game on ABC since 2018. The Orange/Tigers tussle peaked at 7.2 million viewers. In the afternoon, 4.5 million viewers tuned into Texas at Oklahoma State, the most-watched Big 12 Conference game in 2022, peaking at 6.6 million viewers.

Mississippi State at Alabama was the top college football game across cable and in primetime in Week 8 with a combined 3.6 million viewers between the main telecast on ESPN and CFB Primetime with The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN2. The audience was up slightly from the same matchup in a similar viewing window in 2021.