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Ohio State-Florida Atlantic was the highest-rated CFB game that started at noon
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FOX wanted to switch up its TV lineup this year in terms of Big Ten coverage for college football.
The company wanted to put a marquee team — or game — starting at noon on FOX for the entire country to see. Apparently in Week 1, it worked out.
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Ohio State faced Florida Atlantic at noon ET on Saturday and drew the highest rating of any game that kicked off at that time:
Saturday starts strong on FOX 💪
No. 5 Ohio State’s 45-21 win over Florida Atlantic was yesterday’s highest-rated college football game in the Noon ET time slot. pic.twitter.com/WMDYDBODmB
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) September 1, 2019
What is interesting isn’t just that the game got a great rating — it received a 91% increase when compared to a comparable game last season — but that the Buckeyes led 28-0 midway through the first quarter.
Just eight minutes in, fans could have turned it off or switched. However, fans stayed.
The 2.1 metered market rating isn’t a massive number, but when compared to other games that started at the same time, none did better. Ohio State-Florida Atlantic was never going to produce the best numbers of the weekend, but FOX certainly did well from a strategic standpoint.
Kevin covers Big Ten football for Saturday Tradition.