Ohio State-Texas sets Week 2 ratings record with 14 million viewers, but down from last year

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Week 2 of the 2026 college football season featured two high-profile SEC-Big Ten matchups, with Ohio State-Texas setting records for ESPN.

On Saturday, Texas’s improbable comeback win over Ohio State averaged 14.0 million viewers on ABC, peaking at 16.4 million, according to ESPN PR. That is the most-watched regular-season college football game on ESPN networks since Michigan and Ohio State in 2016. It was also the most-watched Week 2 college football game ever and the most-watched primetime regular-season game since Notre Dame and USC in 2012.

Meanwhile, Michigan’s win over Oklahoma on Fox’s Big Noon Saturday averaged 8.2 million viewers, peaking at 11.1 million. Because Michigan and Ohio State is now a yearly mainstay on Fox, the game didn’t set any records, but it was up 31% from last year’s Big Noon Saturday viewership average.

A key question, as raised by Awful Announcing’s Ben Koo, is how the games would perform after essentially switching networks and time slots from last year.

Ohio State and Texas in primetime declined from last year’s 16.6 million on Big Noon Saturday to 14.0 million on ABC this year. However, Michigan and Oklahoma also decreased from 9.7 million to 8.2 million moving from ABC primetime to Fox’s Noon. It is worth mentioning that Ohio State’s win over Texas was a Week 1 matchup last year and Week 2 this year, so it is not a perfect comparison. Michigan was also ranked in 2025 but was not when taking on Oklahoma in 2026, although you could argue interest in Michigan was still high on the heels of their Hail Mary win the week before.

So while Ohio State and Texas did see a much larger year-over-year decline, which caught the attention of Fox President of Insights and Analytics Michael Mulvihill on X, there really isn’t enough evidence to suggest that fans would rather watch noon windows compared with primetime. A more likely answer is that fans will watch top games regardless of kickoff time. Additionally, last year’s version of Ohio State vs. Texas had both pregame shows hyping the game, as opposed to this year, and the middle third of this game seemed to point towards a blowout, which may have dampened viewership as well.

Another factor is updated methodological changes by Nielsen. Unlike last season, where comparisons were being made from Big Data to the older panel standard, these year-over-year comparisons are directly comparing Big Data against Big Data.

While not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, in total the Fox Big Noon matchups of Ohio State vs. Texas and Oklahoma vs. Michigan squeaked out a small win over ABC’s version with the combined audience being Big Noon (24.8 million) and ABC Primetime (23.7 million). Given the other variables, it’s not a definitive win and probably one that signals that the time slot doesn’t matter much.

Starting this September, Nielsen has also added new co-viewing metrics, among other refinements to Big Data. The NFL has already argued that these changes will hurt its viewership numbers. It is unclear if there is a similar effect on college football viewership.

Outside of these top two games, while ESPN put its best game on primetime, it also won the 3:30 p.m. window. Alabama and Kentucky averaged 7.3 million viewers, peaking at 9 million, making it the third-most-watched game of the week. Competing action on Fox, featuring BYU and Arizona, averaged 3.0 million.

Missouri and Kansas played in Friday primetime on Fox and was the fourth-most-watched game of the week, averaging 3.1 million viewers and up 33% from Fox’s Friday college football average last week.

The surprise Oklahoma State upset over Oregon on ESPN averaged 2.1 million viewers, but note that the game had a delayed start due to rain and was bumped to non-Nielsen-rated ESPNews at 4 p.m. to allow ESPN to air the women’s US Open final.

Finally, Iowa’s win over Iowa State in primetime averaged 2.2 million viewers across NBC and Peacock according to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

Overall, through two weeks of the season, college football viewership remains strong, though it may not hit the same high ceilings as last year.

The post Ohio State-Texas sets Week 2 ratings record with 14 million viewers, but down from last year appeared first on Awful Announcing.

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