The Week 3 showdown between LSU and Ole Miss in Oxford had everything going for it. Not only was it a contest between two arch-rivals, both ranked inside the AP Top 10, but it also featured a months-long build-up that had been brewing since the second Lane Kiffin left the Rebels last November to take over the Tigers.
On paper, it very well may have been the most quintessential college football game of the 21st century. The matchup checked every box one could come up with, and at times felt like a drama unfolding on Netflix more than a real-life football game.
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The fact that it was decided by eight points, with the team that was left at the altar getting its revenge, and with the game coming down to a play with under one minute remaining was just the icing on the cake. When the final whistle sounded, it felt as if the college football world as a whole could finally take a breath after a four-hour slugfest coming off of 10 months of anticipation.
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The TV ratings from the game reflect that college football fans were glued to what was unfolding in Oxford, but not quite like they were to a specific game just one week prior.
ESPN shared that LSU-Ole Miss was Week 3’s most-watched game, with an average of 10.9 million viewers and a peak viewership of 13.7 million. The matchup outperformed the nearest competitor by a whopping 237%.
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Those are huge numbers, and the game ranked eighth all-time across the ESPN network when it comes to regular-season games over the last 10 years.
Ratings from Ohio State’s visit to Texas in Week 2, however, make the LSU-Ole Miss contest look like a preseason scrimmage.
Texas’ stunning comeback to beat the Buckeyes averaged 14 million viewers, with a peak of 16.4 million. It was the most-watched Week 2 matchup on record, across all networks, and the most-watched regular-season primetime game since the 2012 Notre Dame-USC game.
LSU has been among the strongest brands across the Southeast for well over a half century, and Ole Miss is turning into a modern-era blueblood, but this proves what most already knew, and that is that Texas and Ohio State are national brands in the most literal and legitimate of ways.
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Both games came down to the final minutes, both featured comebacks, and both were oozing with storylines and stars, but the Buckeyes and Longhorns are operating on a level of their own.