When it comes to college football ratings, teams in the big conferences are the ones that get the big numbers.
Most of the viewership comes from watching a handful of teams. According to Nielsen, more than 50% of college football viewership comes from 18 teams.
Let’s start with schools and conferences, which get the best TV ratings?
What schools get the best college football ratings?
Would it surprise you to know that schools in the SEC and Big Ten dominate the top of the ratings list?
Probably not. But what might is that Colorado cracked the Top 10 this year because coach Deion Sanders brought plenty of attention. The Buffaloes got four or five times more viewers in 2023 than they did in 2022.
Most-watched college football teams
Here is a list of the 25 teams that viewers watched the most.
The number represents the average number of viewers by million. The number in the parenthesis is the number of games that the team played that was Nielsen rated.
- Alabama 7.12 (11)
- Ohio State 6.05 (11)
- Colorado 6.00 (9)
- Georgia 5.90 (11)
- Michigan 5.61 (12)
- Tennessee 4.57 (7)
- Oregon 4.43 (10)
- Texas 4.26 (12)
- Florida State 4.16 (12)
- Notre Dame 4.15 (10)
- Washington 4.14 (10)
- LSU 3.79 (9)
- USC 3.77 (9)
- Penn State 3.66 (11)
- Auburn 3.55 (7)
- Missouri 3.25 (6)
- Florida 3.17 (8)
- Ole Miss 2.93 (7)
- Clemson 2.90 (7)
- Texas A&M 2.74 (9)
- Iowa 2.68 (11)
- Miami 2.65(6)
- Duke 2.639 (6)
- Nebraska 2.637 (11)
- Utah 2.616 (7)
Conferences with the best college football ratings
In what will probably be the last year of the Power 5, since the future of the Pac-12 is unclear. In this last season of conferences as we know them, here is the average viewership for each league. This is an average of million per game. If a school isn’t listed, it’s because it didn’t average at least one million viewers.
Atlantic Coast Conference
Florida State 4.16, Clemson 2.90, Miami 2.65, Duke 2.63, Louisville 2.37, North Carolina 1.93, Georgia Tech 1.83, Boston College 1.48, Pitt 1.37, Syracuse 1.20, NC State 1.13, Virginia Tech 1.02.
Big 12
Texas 4.26, Oklahoma 2.61, Oklahoma State 1.96, TCU 1.70, Kansas 1.48, West Virginia 1.45, Iowa State 1.37, BYU 1.31, Kansas State 1.30, Texas Tech 1.30, Baylor 1.09.
Big Ten
Ohio State 6.05, Michigan 5.61, Penn State 3.66, Iowa 2.68, Nebraska 2.63, Michigan State 1.65, Wisconsin 1.61, Maryland 1.55, Minnesota 1.44, Indiana 1.26, Rutgers 1.14.
Pac-12
Colorado 6.00, Oregon 4.43, Washington 4.14, USC 3.77, Utah 2.61, Oregon State 2.44, Washington State 2.15, UCLA 1.67, Stanford 1.64, Arizona 1.30, Arizona State 1.20, Cal 1.08.
Southeastern Conference
Alabama 7.12, Georgia 5.90, Tennessee 4.57, LSU 3.79, Auburn 3.55, Missouri 3.25, Florida 3.17, Ole Miss 2.93, Texas A&M 2.74, South Carolina 2.69, Vanderbilt 2.46, Kentucky 2.07, Mississippi State 2.01, Arkansas 1.93.
College football rankings: Viewership by network
College football generates millions of viewers, especially on traditional over-air networks. CBS has had the Southeastern Conference games for 15 years and leads the pack.
The bad news for CBS, though, is that the SEC is leaving to go with ESPN/ABC starting next season. It could be the end of CBS dominating the charts. CBS will have the Big Ten next year and it also draws a large audience. But in its final year with the SEC, CBS won the ratings battle by a landslide.
| Network | Games | Avg. Viewers |
| CBS | 26 | 5.07 million |
| Fox | 44 | 4.03 million |
| ABC | 47 | 3.95 million |
| NBC | 22 | 2.80 million |
| ESPN | 76 | 1.96 million |
| Big Ten Network | 30 | 605,000 |
| FS1 | 58 | 587,000 |
| The CW | 13 | 492,000 |
| ESPN2 | 60 | 417,000 |
| FS2 | 4 | 171,000 |
| NFL Network | 12 | 88,000 |
| ESPNU | 61 | 65,000 |
Why are some networks that show college football games not listed?
The ratings are for networks that Nielsen, the long-time TV audience insights service. Not all networks are measured. Here are the ones that are and aren’t.
Networks that are rated by Nielsen
- ABC
- CBS
- FOX
- NBC
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- ESPNU
- Big Ten Network
- the CW
Networks not rated by Nielsen
- ESPN+
- CBS Sports Network
- Peacock
- ACC Network
- Pac-12 Network
- SEC Network