Your final Week 1 TV ratings, per Nielsen:
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 10, 2026
ND-Wis. (NBC): 8.1M
LSU-Clemson (ABC): 5.8M
Wash-Wash St (NBC): 5.1M
Oregon-Boise St (CBS): 4.8M
Lou-Ole Miss (ABC): 4.7M
Baylor-Auburn (ABC): 4.2M
Mich-WMU (NBC): 4.1M
FSU-SMU (ESPN): 4.1M
Sunday doubleheader paid off big for NBC.
https://247sports.com/college/florida-state/board/36/contents/viewership-numbers-for-fsusmu-289751283/?page=1
*Remember that FSU was the only one of this bunch that was on ESPN cable/streaming only… and the game was on a return to work night and 1 hour 1/2 late. The game went to 1:00am-ish. All the others were on OTA networks.
Your final Week 1 TV ratings, per Nielsen: ND-Wis. (NBC): 8.1M LSU-Clemson (ABC): 5.8M Wash-Wash St (NBC): 5.1M Oregon-Boise St (CBS): 4.8M Lou-Ole Miss (ABC): 4.7M Baylor-Auburn (ABC): 4.2M Mich-WMU (NBC): 4.1M FSU-SMU (ESPN): 4.1M
FSU season-opening win sets CW viewership recordFlorida State’s season-opening win over New Mexico State did more than put the Seminoles at 1-0, it also delivered a record audience for The CW.
The Week 0 matchup averaged 1.96 million viewers in primetime, making it the most-watched sports broadcast in The CW’s history, according to Nielsen Panel + Big Data figures released by Nexstar Media Group on Wednesday.
Viewership peaked at 2.4 million between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m. ET as Florida State pulled away for a 34-17 victory at Doak Campbell Stadium. The broadcast also drew 718,000 viewers in the Adults 25-54 demographic, another network record for a sports event.
The game’s performance extended beyond The CW’s own benchmarks. According to Nexstar, Florida State-New Mexico State was the second-strongest primetime broadcast of the night among Adults 25-54, outperforming every primetime program on ABC, CBS and NBC in that demographic.
Updated Week 0/1 CFB TV Viewers in West
— SuperWest Sports (@SuperWestSports) September 11, 2026
5.50M—WSU-Washington (NBC)
4.83M—Boise St-Oregon (CBS)
3.73M—Colorado-Ga Tech (ESPN)
1.98M—Miami-Stanford (ESPN)
1.96M—NMSU at FSU (CW)
1.86M—SJSU at USC (NBC)
1.69M—Ore St-Houston (ESPN)
1.65M—Memphis-UNLV (FOX)
1.32M—Fresno St-USC (FOX)…