Miami Win Over Florida Was Most Watched Week 4 Game Nationally

The 26-7 Miami win over Florida on Saturday night was the most watched game nationally in week four, with 6.5 million viewers on ABC per Stewart Mandel of The Athletic. Florida and Miami were fortunate to kickoff at 7:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time on free television.

Oklahoma's 24-17 win over Auburn with a 3:30 EDT kickoff finished second with 6.1 million viewers. The other games mentioned by Mandel were Michigan over Nebraska, Texas Tech over Utah, Syracuse over Clemson, Iowa over Rutgers and Indiana over Illinois.

The Miami win over Florida dominated the 63-10 Indiana win over Illinois in the ratings. Illinois at Indiana also kicked off at 7:30 PM EDT on NBC in direct competition to Florida at Miami on ABC. Florida and Miami, being established programs on the network more known for college football, probably led to higher viewership.

Michigan at Nebraska which finished third was the highest-rated CBS game of the week four ahead the Washington win over Washington State. Texas Tech at Utah which had a noon kickoff on Saturday was the highest rated game for Fox in week four.

The 34-21 Syracuse upset at Clemson was the only other game involving an ACC team in the top 10 nationally in week four. Syracuse at Clemson had 3.4 million viewers for the noon kickoff on ESPN. Miami hosts Syracuse on November 8 in the penultimate 2025 home game.

After their week five bye, Miami will play its second consecutive ABC primetime game on October 4 at Florida State. Colorado at TCU on FOX and Minnesota at Ohio State on NBC are the direct competition for Miami at Florida State on October 4. The Hurricanes and Seminoles should win that battle for viewership.

Florida State and Miami being ranked in the top 10 should be good for business for ABC/ESPN. ESPN College GameDay could be headed to Tallahassee. There is a strong likelihood the top broadcast team of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe will call Miami at Florida State.