The results are in from Fox’s experiment of parlaying World Series viewers into a late-night college football matchup.
USC’s 42–20 victory over Rutgers, which kicked off at 11:01 p.m. ET Friday night, averaged just over two million viewers on Fox. The game broadcast began on FS1, as the Dodgers needed a 10th inning to beat the Yankees 6–3 in Game 1 of the Fall Classic.
The first game of the Fall Classic was watched by 15.2 million people—the most for World Series Game 1 since 2017—but the vast majority didn’t stick around for the conference-realignment-enabled Big Ten football clash.
The Rutgers-USC rating is 69% higher than the average viewership for other late-night college football broadcasts on Fox Sports platforms this season. But the audience is also down 27% from the average number of viewers for the network’s previous five Friday night football games this fall, which is 2.74 million.
Fox has four more Friday night college football games this season, with either 8 or 9 p.m. ET kickoffs.
Big Ten Edges Out SEC
In what was a less chaotic weekend for college football than many others this season, Fox had the top game audience of Week 9 action with 5.95 million viewers for Ohio State’s 21–17 win over Nebraska on Saturday afternoon. ABC wasn’t far behind, drawing 5.7 million viewers for Alabama’s 34–0 rout of Missouri.
The most-watched game of the season remains Georgia-Texas, which 13.2 million people tuned in to ABC for earlier this month.
![The University of Alabama showed off renovations to Bryant Denny Stadium Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. Sports Illustrated covers decorate the walls inside the new press box. [Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.]](https://frontofficesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/USATSI_15005835_168422351_lowres-scaled-e1779297429645.jpg?quality=80&w=300)
