Who’d have guessed? Our little corner of these United States boasts the top
two most popular collegiate grid teams over the past 10 years as determined by national televised bowl game ratings, reported in a recent Wall Street  Journal issue. Oregon’s Ducks and Washington’s Huskies top such  traditional powerhouses as Michigan, USC, Penn State, Notre Dame and Ohio State in bowl game home video viewership over the past decade.  Figures are based upon ratings for 15 bowls, not including those staged in 2006, which excludes the record viewership just generated by the national title match between SC and Texas.

Top 10 ratings teams, in order:  Oregon, Washington, Michigan, USC, Texas A&M, Penn State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Florida and Alabama. 

Figures compiled in the past decade ignore the recent collapse of the UW
victory parade. They have no relation to home stadium attendance, led by 
100,000+ home game  crowds averaged by such as Michigan and 
Tennessee. They are based upon Nielsen viewer counts for bowl games 
dating back 10 years. Every time a school played in oneof these games, that 
game’s rating was compared with the average for that bowl.   No scheduling
issues, poll rankings, quality of opponents...all factored into the now notorius
Bowl Championship Series ranking...are not taken into account here.  
Certainly size of alumni body or state population are not pertinent. Money
generated is crucial to the bowl process, with a high percentage of revenue
based upon that from sponsors and TV networks. 

TV viewership transcends ticket sales exponentially in importance. So let’s 
hear it for those coaches and administrators shepherding collegiate grid 
programs in the Land of the Tall Firs.

© 2006 Oregon Magazine