Georgia-Texas SEC Showdown Tops Conference Title Game TV Ratings

Georgia’s 22–19 overtime victory against Texas in the SEC championship game drew higher TV ratings than any other conference title matchup last weekend.

As conference championship games took on new meanings ahead of the first 12-team College Football Playoff, 16.6 million people watched Georgia-Texas on ABC on Saturday afternoon, according to Nielsen ratings. 

That’s down 5% from Alabama-Georgia on CBS last year when the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs were fighting for one of four CFP spots. This year, both Georgia and Texas were virtually guaranteed to make the CFP, even with a loss.

The Big Ten championship, which also featured two eventual Playoff teams, saw a viewership bump from 2023, as 10.5 million viewers tuned in to see Oregon’s 45–37 win over Penn State, making it the second-most-watched title game this season.

• SEC (Georgia-Texas): 16.6 million on ABC 
• Big Ten (Oregon–Penn State): 10.5 million on CBS
• Big 12 (Arizona State–Iowa State): 6.9 million on ABC
• ACC (Clemson-SMU): 6 million on ABC
• Mountain West (Boise State–UNLV): 3 million on Fox

The Big 12 and ACC championship games were down slightly from last year’s matchups, while the Mountain West had its most-watched title contest on record.

Most-Watched Teams: Georgia Tops SEC-Heavy List

During the regular season, Georgia was the most-watched team in college football, averaging 8.6 million viewers per game when playing on Nielsen-rated networks. The Bulldogs’ Oct. 19 win at Texas was the most-watched game of the regular season, drawing 13.2 million viewers on ABC.

The SEC had eight of the 10 most-watched teams this season, with the Big Ten’s Ohio State and Michigan the only non-SEC schools to crack the list revealed by Nielsen on Wednesday.

In the Nielsen report, team rankings were limited to schools that appeared in at least four televised games across networks. Because not all conference-specific networks are currently measured, all were excluded to keep comparisons equal.