College GameDay, ESPN2 Game Ratings Records

- ESPNU Championship Series on SportsCenter
- Most-viewed Seasons Ever for College GameDay and ESPN2’s Game Coverage

Article continues below...

December 10, 2007 -- ESPN’s College GameDay Built by the Home Depot posted its most-viewed season ever, surpassing last year’s record-setting season. The Saturday morning program averaged 1,662,000 households for a 6% increase over last season’s 1,565,000 households.

College GameDay’s telecast from Kansas City, Mo. (for #4 Missouri vs. #2 Kansas) on November 24 averaged 2,034,000 households (based on a 2.1 rating), making it the most-viewed Saturday morning edition of the program ever. It surpassed the previous high of 1,913,000 households, for the November 18, 2006 telecast from Columbus, Ohio (#2 Michigan at #1 Ohio State).

ESPN2’s game coverage posted its most-viewed season ever for the fifth consecutive year of audience growth. On the season, it averaged 1,027,000 households for an increase of 5% over last year’s 979,000 households. This season’s coverage was highlighted by the network’s second and third most-viewed and highest-rated regular-season college football games ever:

* Boise State at Hawaii -- Friday, Nov. 23 -- averaged 2,647,000 households and a 2.8 rating making it ESPN2’s second most-viewed and second highest-rated game.
* West Virginia at South Florida -- Friday, Sept. 28 -- averaged 2,604,000 households and a 2.7 rating making it ESPN2’s third most-viewed and third highest-rated game.

ESPNU Championship Series on SportsCenter to Determine National Champ Via Playoff

ESPN will present a week-long “ESPNU Championship Series” starting Monday, Dec. 10 and debuting on each night’s 6 p.m. SportsCenter. The five-part series presents a hypothetical 10-team playoff, with the winner for each matchup determined by ESPN college football analysts Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit. The 10 teams, and their seeding, were decided by the final BCS Standings.

* Monday (play-in games):
o 7. USC vs. 10. Hawaii;
o 8. Kansas vs. 9. WVU
* Tuesday (quarterfinals):
o 1. Ohio State vs. 8/9 winner;
o 4. Oklahoma vs. 5. Georgia
* Wednesday (quarterfinals):
o 3. Virginia Tech vs. 6. Missouri;
o 2. LSU vs. 7/10 winner
* Thursday: Semifinal games
* Friday: Championship Game

Source: ESPN