Georgia Bulldogs Are No. 1 on Cable TV Over Weekend
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ATHENS - The No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs’ blowout win over South Carolina was the most-watched college football game of the weekend on cable.
UGA-USC nearly beat out Purdue-Notre Dame (2,584,000), which was broadcast on NBC, but fell just short with 2,548,000 total viewers. Although an impressive number, the game is the least-watched Georgia-South Carolina game in Kirby Smart’s time as coach in Athens.
Georgia-USC has been an up-and-down performer for TV networks through the years. Part of that could be because of the shifting time at which the game has been played of late. UGA-USC was once a staple of the start of the season of college football. It became the first game of the early part of the SEC schedule that mattered.
But Carolina’s slip over the last seven years, along with the game being played in September, October and November in that time has hurt audience numbers. The two teams have even played a game on a Sunday of late.
The game is the tenth most-watched Georgia-Carolina game since 2001 on record, although viewership numbers for the 2008 and 2002 games on CBS are not included in that data. The ratings for both the 2008 and 2002 games were higher than the 2021 game.
The two most-watched games in the series’ history came in back-to-back years. In 2013, a record seven million viewers tuned in to watch No. 11 Georgia beat No. 6 South Carolina 41-30 in Athens on ESPN. A year later No. 24 Carolina upset No. 6 Georgia 38-35 in Columbia on CBS.
Georgia-Carolina games this century average 3.6 million viewers a game. Saturday’s game had the worst primetime viewership in series history. The game is the 41st most-watched game of Kirby Smart’s time at UGA. Georgia’s win over Clemson remains the most-watched game of the college football season so far.
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