Auburn vs Ole Miss Football

Auburn wide receiver Quan Bray returns a kick as an official throws a penalty flag in the second quarter at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford Miss., Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014. (Mark Almond/malmond@al.com)

OXFORD, Mississippi -- The top-4 showdown billed as a de facto College Football Playoff elimination game pulled in ESPN's highest rating of the season.

No. 3 Auburn's dramatic 35-31 win over No. 4 Ole Miss drew a 3.8 overnight rating, the highest for an ESPN game, marking the continuation of a rising trend for the network.

The previous high was a 3.5 overnight rating for Florida State's win over Louisville on Thursday night, a mark that knocked off the Ole Miss loss to LSU last weekend.

In short, ESPN's three highest-rated games of the season have come in the last eight days as the College Football Playoff stakes have risen.

Auburn posted an incredible 39.1 overnight rating in Birmingham, a market that almost always draws the highest college football ratings with Alabama on an idle week and the Tigers in a showcase game.