Meanwhile, ABC’s Saturday Night Football had its own share of ratings success with six of the top seven rated contests this season. The network averaged 8.2 million viewers and a 5.0 household rating for its eleven primetime broadcasts in 2008, up 29% over last year.

The top ten rated games were also dominated by BIG 12 Conference matchups, with seven of the top nine broadcasts this year. Notably, the annual Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma was the ninth highest rated broadcast of the 2008 season, despite its early 12PM ET start time.

Local Ratings
An analysis of local markets reveals that the University of Alabama had the highest local ratings of any BCS team in a metered market. On average, 40.1% of the Birmingham market tuned in to Crimson Tide games this year, for an average local audience of 296,000 households.

Up north, Columbus, OH upheld its reputation as one of the most sports-obsessed U.S. cities, with an impressive 32.1% of the market – or an average of 295,000 households – tuning in to Ohio State Buckeye games.

The top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners pulled a booming 32.1% of the Oklahoma City market, good for 220,000 households.

**University located within Diary Market; nearest Metered Market substituted.
Click here for the 56 Metered Markets and Universe Estimates

Heisman Trophy Preview
One of sports’ most storied trophies will be awarded on Saturday at Manhattan’s Downtown Athletic Club. The Heisman finalists are a trio of QB’s- Florida’s Tim Tebow, Texas’ Colt McCoy, and Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford – who starred in front of large television audiences this season, including six of the highest rated national games in 2008. Tebow will attempt to repeat last year’s victory, and become only the second player in history to win two Heisman trophies. Last year’s broadcast on ESPN was watched by 4.3 million viewers, the most for the ceremony this decade.