Michigan-Iowa gets drilled by Florida-LSU

To no surprise given the matchup CBS had of two of the nation's top four ranked teams, its Florida-LSU telecast easily outdrew ABC's Michigan-Iowa presentation. Florida-LSU did very, very well, as the item below will elaborate.

I mean, look. Florida is ratings gold. A big SEC matchup is ratings gold. Iowa is not exactly a compelling program to people beyond the Midwest. And by the Midwest, I mean ... Iowa. And an unranked Michigan lacks the cache of the normal Michigan of the last 40 years.

CBS doesn't have many Saturday night games. I wonder how Michigan-Iowa would have done without any such competition. It probably still wouldn't have done a big number. Does any of this matter much? You tell me.

The following is lifted from Sports Media Watch:

Michigan/Iowa on ABC's Saturday Night Football drew a 2.7 overnight rating on Saturday night, down 44% from a 4.8 for comparable coverage last year, and the lowest overnight rating of the season for any college football telecast on ABC.

The 2.7 is the lowest overnight for Saturday Night Football

since October '06.

Saturday Night Football

was crushed in the ratings by a high-profile SEC battle on CBS. #1 Florida against #4 LSU drew a 6.8 overnight on CBS, 152% higher than the 2.7 for Michigan/Iowa.

ABC drew much better numbers earlier in the day, as regional coverage featuring Wisconsin/Ohio State drew a 4.5 overnight on Saturday afternoon -- up 25% from a 3.6 for comparable coverage last year.