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The UCF Knights’ 56-41 win over Memphis in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game this past Saturday was watched by 3.321 million viewers, good enough for a 2.1 rating on ABC, according to SportsMediaWatch.com.
The game was down down 9% in ratings and 2% in viewership from last year’s American Conference Championship Game, which had 3.385M viewers and a 2.3 rating last year’s double-overtime thriller kicked off at noon on ABC, compared to 3:30 this year on ABC, across from the SEC Championship on CBS between #1 Alabama and #4 Georgia.
That game was most-watched game of the season to date, getting a 10.1 rating with 17.499 million viewers on CBS, and the most-watched SEC title game since 2009, between Alabama and Florida.
UCF was The American’s TV draw in 2018 as the Knights were involved in five of the six most-watched American Conference games of the season, and five of the seven AAC games that drew over one million viewers.
Most-Watched AAC Games of 2018
| Game | Day | Date | Network | Viewers | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game | Day | Date | Network | Viewers | Rating |
| Memphis at UCF | Saturday | 12/1/2018 | ABC | 3,321,000 | 2.1 |
| Cincinnati at UCF | Saturday | 11/17/2018 | ABC | 3,124,000 | 1.9 |
| UCF at Memphis | Saturday | 10/13/2018 | ABC/ESPN2* | 2,900,000 | 1.9 |
| South Florida at Houston | Saturday | 10/27/2018 | ABC/ESPN2* | 2,000,000 | 1.4 |
| UCF at South Florida | Friday | 11/23/2018 | ESPN | 1,741,000 | N/A |
| Temple at UCF | Thursday | 11/1/2018 | ESPN | 1,191,000 | 0.8 |
| South Florida at Tulsa | Friday | 10/12/2018 | ESPN | 1,170,000 | 0.7 |
| Memphis at Tulane | Thursday | 10/4/2018 | ESPN | 738,000 | 0.48 |
| Tulsa at Temple | Thursday | 9/20/2018 | ESPN | 728,000 | 0.48 |
| Memphis at SMU | Friday | 11/16/2018 | ESPN | 623,000 | 0.37 |
It remains to be seen how these numbers will impact The American’s TV negotiations with ESPN and other TV networks in the near future. But one thing is for sure: UCF has benefited from the national platform ESPN and ABC have provided to the league compared to other conferences like Mountain West and Conference USA.