TV ratings: OU-Nebraska rates No. 2

Did you see where Texas Tech-Texas outdrew OU-Nebraska in the Oklahoma City television market Saturday night? The games went head to head, and UT-Tech drew a 21.9 rating on ABC, OU-NU a 21.6 on ESPN.

I don’t know what that means, but it’s interesting. Non-cable games always have an edge on cable games, but still, I’ve never seen an OU game lose out to anything.

There were extenuating circumstances.

1. The UT-Tech game was of utmost importance to every football fan in the state. OU fans, OSU fans, college fans in general.

2. OU-Nebraska was a rout; 21-0 within five minutes, 35-0 after one quarter. Thousands of OU fans no doubt switched channels.

3. UT-Tech was a great finish and lasted longer, so even die-hard Sooners could watch the end. The final 45 minutes of UT-Tech drew a 33.2 rating.

But Saturday was an example of the slightly-changing market. OSU-Iowa State on Saturday afternoon drew a 21.3 on ABC. Again, non-cable telecasts have an advantage, and OSU-ISU wasn’t going against Tech-Texas, but nevertheless that’s an excellent trend for the Cowboys, that they can pull a number almost the equal of the Sooners.

It’s also a sign that viewers might be a little more discriminating than in the past. Maybe the public’s tolerance for blowouts is waning. We can only hope.

One more thing on the TV ratings. The Thunder drew a paltry 0.4 Saturday night for its game at Houston. And you know what? That’s not an awful number. I didn’t know the Thunder could draw that many people against all that college football.