Alabama Beats LSU In BCS National Championship That Draws Record Low Ratings

If a trophy is lifted in a dome and nobody watches it, does it mean anything?

While last night's initially enthusiastic crowd at the Superdome and a modest home viewing audience made certain that there were eyewitnesses to Alabama's 21-0 dismantling of LSU in the BCS National Championship Game, the ratings and interest in college football's showcase seem to have reached a nadir.

Was it the matchup? The teams? The late start on a school night? Or just bowl fatigue after so very many games during the previous few weeks?

The ESPN broadcast of the SEC rematch drew an overnight rating of 13.8, the lowest rating in the history of the BCS. While this lackluster rating did edge the rating earned by the 9-6 regular-season battle between these two leaguemates, it undercut the previous BCS low recorded during the 2002 Rose Bowl between Nebraska and Miami.

The reasons for the lack of interest in this game are as numerous as the poorly-executed plays by the LSU offense were in the game itself. The anticipation of those plays is prominent among the factors that so many people took a pass on this game -- perhaps to watch DVR'd episodes of The Bachelor or Downton Abbey. Other factors include the fact that we'd seen this game before -- and that it was boring the first time.

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Did You Watch The Alabama-LSU Game?

All Four Quarters! Roll Tide! (or Geaux Tigers!)

I Checked In But It Was Hard To Watch.

Yeah, I Watched In November!

Never Had Any Interest.

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Not only did the 9-6 brawl in November not live up to the ample pre-game hype but it also seemed to limit the promotion that ESPN could give to this game. After all the talk of the last meeting being "the Game of the Century," what slogans were left to sell this? The Game of the... well it's the last game that we'll get for a months.

Had LSU and Alabama come out of the tunnel looking sharp on offense then perhaps viewership could have grown over the course of the night thanks to word of mouth and tweet of hand. However, the parade of field goal attempts in the first only served to reinforce that this was a game worth missing. If there was one term appearing most alongside the obvious hashtags #LSU, #Alabama and #BCS it was BORING.

HERE ARE SOME NOTABLE TWEETS FROM THE BRAVE AND UNENTERTAINED FEW WATCHING THE GAME:

Comments

[l3ama205]

08:00 AM on 01/12/2012

''Who cares about the BCS''
i'm sure the ones who r in it and the ones who dont aren't in it !

[bstaneland]

11:35 PM on 01/11/2012

Chris Greenberg is an idiot. The only reason there were record low ratings is because it was on ESPN and not on a network. Hello???? Moron.

[matchles]

01:04 AM on 01/12/2012

It was on ESPN last year and pulled a higher rating.

[Idaho Revolutionary]

08:47 PM on 01/13/2012

Wrong. The reason it drew poor ratings was:

1.) Only SEC fans would give a crap about the game
2.) We already saw them play this year
3.) Only SEC fans would give a crap about the game
4.) Most of the bowl games were boring and there were few good match-ups
5.) Only SEC fans could give a crap about the game
6.) The SEC is boring to watch

[bstaneland]

12:14 PM on 01/16/2012

6.) The SEC is boring to watch???

I could see your redundant points 1, 3 & 5 having some merit, but after reading your 6th point it is clear you would rather watch potatoes grow. The SEC is a dynasty at the moment and spurs more players to the NFL than any other conference.

[smatt968]

06:31 PM on 01/11/2012

I love how people complain about a system that has worked well for several years. They have basically been honest and right in the 2 teams they pick every year. There is no corruption or deception there. If you think there was corruption wait untill a playoff system is started, it will only be worse.

Also a team that wins a playoff doesn't necessarily make you the best team, it makes you a tournament winner. The college basketball tournament that is played every year, it you played it again you would likely get a different winner. Football needs to be careful not to add to many teams. a playoff would be fun, make alot of money, not necessarily all good for football

[Idaho Revolutionary]

08:48 PM on 01/13/2012

Few people benefit from the BCS system, and to believe that the system works and doesn't screw teams over is pretty naive if you ask me.

[HarryinOR]

06:11 PM on 01/11/2012

I didn't mind the defenses dominating this game. There was so little defense played this year in college football that it was refreshing to see the two best play for the national title.

ESPN IS KILLING COLLEGE FOOTBALL by over-saturating the market with nauseatingly mediocre football and over the top "analysis".

[jmichaelmunger]

05:12 PM on 01/11/2012

All the haters do not quite get the correlation here. The SEC has won BCS championships 6 in a row. How? With defense. Offense wins games; defense wins championships... PERIOD.

If Baylor and their 60+ points, and West Virginia and their 70 points, and USC, and Oregon, and, and, and... want to have ANY chance to hoist the crystal ball, they had better focus on the less than sexy defensive side of the ball.

I am alright with them scoring at will and eschewing defense; it just means that the SEC will continue to dominate.

(And talk of a playoff is just hot air. No amount of Pledge can polish this tµr∂. Only a complete regional realignment of 6, 16-team conferences can make a dent. 25-30 teams will have to leave the FBS, but so what--they were never going to matter anyways. [I'm talking to you Idaho!]
We need to make the season the playoffs, not add onto an already clunky system.)

[Idaho Revolutionary]

08:50 PM on 01/13/2012

I don't appreciate your dialogue. I wish you would take-back what you said and apologize to Idaho.

[jmichaelmunger]

09:32 PM on 01/13/2012

Y'all vying for a lot of national championships up there in Moscow? I hear the Kibbie Dome can be a real intimidating venue, especially late in the season.

While I do love your mascot ('the Vandals' is really cool), Idaho probably needs to be taken out of the mix of 96 teams, unless you can pick the 24 other teams in the FBS that need to be bumped down instead...

[DrBulldog]

02:08 PM on 01/11/2012

The Basically Crappy System existstoday only because of the resulting massive profits for corporations and the huge kick-backs to the NCAA schools. Only when money is replaced by merit will we ever have true national football champions.

[Ozarks]

08:42 PM on 01/11/2012

Don't forget the purported "not for profit massive payoffs" to " Bowl organizers" of the various bowls plus the federal investigation of using Bowl generated funds for political contributions.

[oldsquare]

08:05 AM on 01/11/2012

Why this fixation on excitement? College football, unlike the NFL, was not instituted as entertainment and while it has become a big money activity it still has value beyond just keeping the viewers happy. This was a good football game. While LSU failed to score points, their defensive effort was exceptional at times.

[opprobrious]

02:40 AM on 01/11/2012

"Was it the matchup? The teams? The late start on a school night? Or just bowl fatigue after so very many games during the previous few weeks?"

Yes.

[jmichaelmunger]

05:13 PM on 01/11/2012

Yeah, a Monday night was pretty damn stupid, especially after a weekend of great NFL.

[Rich Cash]

02:40 AM on 01/11/2012

Low ratings were probably due to the fact that both teams were from the SEC. Next year might be better with USC back in the mix, but really, unless the rest of the country can start producing kids as healthy, talented, and motivated as those we produce in the south, the situation will stay the same. The NFL is more popular in the North, the Northeast, and the West than it is in the South because most of the talent in the NFL comes from the south and we've seen these boys play before. We're more interested in seeing the new young talent coming from our SEC teams that will dominate the NFL in the years to come.

[Idaho Revolutionary]

08:56 PM on 01/13/2012

Most NFL talent doesn't come from the south. A quick google search will successfully dispute your opinion.

Not only do most NFL players NOT go to school the in the south, they aren't even born in the south.

A certain western state by the name of California is responsible for more NFL recruits than the entire south combined.

[Kritikos]

12:04 AM on 01/11/2012

One thing that will cause a change is low ratings(money); hopefully a quasi playoff system. Anything to avoid the mess just witnessed.

[local21]

09:36 PM on 01/10/2012

I tried watching but that was terrible , just terrible.

[Rich Cash]

02:32 AM on 01/11/2012

It was terrible if you were anything but an Alabama fan. Then it was wonderful, just wonderful!

[southern drawl]

09:32 PM on 01/10/2012

Nobody watched my butt,,,,,,,,,,,nobody that rooted for the minor leagues like Oklahoma state or Boise St. just did not admit to watching,,,,,,,,,,the computer poll said 30 plus percent,,,,,,,that's about accurate i would imagine,,,,,,,,

[gomphiasis]

01:04 AM on 01/11/2012

LOL must be one of them SEC statisticians.

[Flight]

09:27 PM on 01/10/2012

The BCS is nothing but BS. Nothing more than a tool catering to the 'power conferences' for the money. How is it Alabama didn't even win its division, didn't even play in the conference championship, but YET gets (and wins) a National Championship? That's just wrong. Meantime, teams like MI and VT are ranked lower than Boise St., but yet the big conference schools get to bump BSU off the major bowl lineup. The BCS is working hard to drive fans away from the college game.

[jmichaelmunger]

05:21 PM on 01/11/2012

If Boise State is your only argument, then you just brought one bullet to a war. A whole offseason preparing for one ranked team (VA Tech or Georgia), only to play high schools for the rest of the season does not make a tough schedule. Rather than flirting with the laughing stock of the BCS, the Big East, Boise should be making a play with the PAC-12 to follow the SEC's lead to go to 14 teams. Face it, they are much to happy to play the BCS victim year after year because it means that they don't actually have to do the hard work and play the hard schedule required to be the best.

I am not a big fan of the current system either, but I am less of a fan of weak teams claiming the system ain't fair. Don't hate the players, hate the game; work to join it, fix it, or shut the hell up.

[rikster]

08:34 PM on 01/10/2012

NCAA is following the NFL's lead in trying to become the ultimate Marketing tool.

[BobLaughlin]

08:16 PM on 01/10/2012

Congratulations to the college football national champions. All 5 of them. Throwing all false modesty aside, my opinion on sports is the law. I’m 55 & this is the first time I’ve had to split the award between 5 schools.

The 5 champs for the 2011 season are: Boise State, Houston, Oklahoma State, Louisiana State & Alabama. They’re in order of when they secured their share, by finishing with 1 loss. Although a case could be made for dropping the two SEC schools. High-powered offenses or exciting games? Not in the SEC.

For those keeping score, that’s Boise State’s 3rd championship (albeit 2 shared w/ other schools). Utah has 1 outright title & 1 shared this decade, TCU has 1 shared.

Will the myopic NCAA & the bowls’ “Great Leaders” ever wake up? They must have set another record this year: 13 teams with 6-6 records invited to bowls. 13 teams + UCLA, which went boweling despite a 6-7 record.

A playoff system would not, I repeat: not eliminate the bowls. It would just turn the lesser bowls into 1st or 2nd round playoff games. Beef 'O' Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl might be exciting if it was a playoff game. The Meineke Car Care Bowl Of Texas might actually have some people in the stands if it was a playoff game. People in the stands = money, which is all the NCAA & the bowls care about anyway.

[rikster]

08:36 PM on 01/10/2012

you forgot the "We need to make Money" Bowl...

[Timothy Marker]

10:03 PM on 01/10/2012

Bob, you're a homer plain and simple. While I totally agree on your playoff take, your BS(U) statement is just stupid.