College Football TV Ratings: ESPN, ABC draw strong viewership for CFP 1st round

The second installment of the 12-team College Football Playoff brought more strong TV ratings for ESPN and ABC. All told, the first round averaged 9.9 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, TNT and truTV.

Alabama’s victory at Oklahoma led the charge with 14.9 million viewers on average in the Friday slot. That just beat out Saturday’s opener between Miami and Texas A&M, which averaged 14.8 million viewers. The Hurricanes’ thrilling victory over the Aggies peaked at 19.3 million viewers while Alabama-Oklahoma peaked at 16.4 million.

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The final two games of Saturday’s tripleheader aired on TNT and truTV. Ole Miss’ blowout win against Tulane averaged 6.2 million viewers in the late-afternoon window Oregon’s win over James Madison averaged 4.4 million viewers in primetime.

For comparison, last year’s first round saw two games top 13 million viewers, led by 14.3 million for Tennessee at Ohio State. Both those games aired on ESPN and ABC. The other two, just like in 2025, aired on TNT while also going up against the NFL as the league starts playing games on Saturday.

The 2025-26 season marks the second year of a sublicense deal between ESPN and TNT to air CFP games. Ross Dellenger had more details on the future of the agreement, including a semifinal game on TNT, and how the NFL fits into the equation.

ESPN and ABC hoped to continue the momentum built during the college football regular season as the big TV ratings winners. ABC aired 17 of the Top 20 most-watched games of the year, led by Texas vs. Texas A&M in their Week 14 rivalry game. The Lone Star Showdown hit 13 million viewers on Black Friday.

How it happened: College Football Playoff 1st round

In Friday’s standalone matchup, Alabama got its revenge against Oklahoma after the Sooners defeated the Crimson Tide during the regular season. It looked like it would be all OU early, but Ty Simpson and the offense kicked things into gear en route to the 34-24 win in Norman. Zabien Brown also made a huge play for the Alabama defense with a game-tying pick-six in the third quarter to help the Tide keep momentum.

That set the stage for a Saturday tripleheader, which began with Miami vs. Texas A&M. Points came at a premium at Kyle Field amid high winds and multiple special teams mistakes, but a late Malachi Toney touchdown made the difference as the Hurricanes came away with the 10-3 win to advance to the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.

From there, Ole Miss kicked off its new era in grand fashion, flying past Tulane 41-10 to give Pete Golding his first win as the Rebels’ head coach. Then, in the nightcap, Oregon didn’t leave any room for doubt as the Ducks defeated James Madison 51-34 at Autzen Stadium. That sent both teams to the quarterfinal round.