Conference championship weekend rakes in massive TV numbers

The final weekend of college football featured some of the best games of the 2021 season, and it shows in the TV ratings. 

Per Sports TV Ratings, 15.3 million people watched the SEC Championship between Alabama and Georgia, which only fell behind last weekend’s Ohio State-Michigan game on the season. “The Game” had 15.9 million viewers. The victors of that Big Ten matchup, Michigan, played Iowa in the Big Ten Championship on Saturday, and the game had 11.7 million viewers.

The SEC game was at 4:00 p.m. ET on CBS and was won by Alabama, while the Big Ten had the primetime window on Fox and Michigan beat Iowa. Ohio State-Michigan was on Fox at noon ET, but the game holds the highest viewership title.

The Cincinnati-Houston AAC Championship game had higher viewership than the ACC Championship between Pittsburgh and Wake Forest, presumably because a trip to the College Football Playoff was on the line for the Bearcats, and the ACC teams were not blue blood programs.

The Big 12 (8 million) doubled the viewership of the Pac-12 (4.2 million) and nearly quadrupled the number of fans who tuned into the ACC title game (2.7 million). The Oklahoma State-Baylor game essentially had its own window, having been aired at noon ET. Additionally, the Cowboys would have made a strong case for inclusion in the CFP had they beaten Baylor, likely drawing more casual fans to their TV screens for the game.

As a result of championship weekend, Alabama, Michigan, Georgia and Cincinnati will play in the CFP. The Tide play the Bearcats in the Cotton Bowl, while the Wolverines face off against the Bulldogs in the Orange Bowl.

It is Alabama’s seventh trip, Georgia’s second trip and the first appearance for both Michigan and Cincinnati. Michigan is the only team to ever make the postseason tournament after having been unranked entering the season.