Marketed as the college football game of the week, Saturday’s ACC battle between Clemson and Florida State was not even the game of the night.



The latest edition of “Saturday Night Football,” won by #4 Florida State over #10 Clemson, earned a 3.2 overnight rating on ABC — down 20% from LSU/West Virginia last year (4.0), and down 16% from Oregon State/Boise State in 2010 (3.8).

The 3.2 is the lowest overnight of the season for “Saturday Night Football,” falling a tick below last week’s 3.3 for Notre Dame/Michigan State.

While last year’s LSU/West Virginia game only had to compete with ESPN and ESPN2, Clemson/Florida State aired opposite Top 25 action on both NBC and FOX. NBC’s Michigan/Notre Dame won the ratings battle with a 4.0 overnight.

Earlier Saturday, regional action featuring Oklahoma State/UCLA or Temple/Penn State drew a 2.4 overnight — down 35% from regional action featuring Oklahoma State/Texas A&M last year (3.7), and down 23% from coverage featuring UCLA/Texas in 2010 (3.1).

(Saturday’s numbers from Sports Business Daily)