This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Wow. Utah State beat the crap out of BYU on Friday.That's not a prediction for this week's game, that's a TV ratings report from this past Friday. More than 2½ times as many viewers tuned in to see the Aggies beat San Jose State as saw the Cougars beat Middle Tennessee.The two games aired opposite each other - the former on ESPN; the latter on ESPNU. And here are the rather stunning results, according to ESPN:USU-SJSU averaged 838,000 viewers and a 0.6 rating.BYU-Middle Tennessee averaged 313,000 viewers and a 0.2 rating.The Aggies were actually seen by 2.68 times more viewers than the Cougars.BYU apologists can point to the whole Middle Tennessee thing. And the fact that ESPNU is available in about 25 million fewer homes. But that's grasping at straws.By the way, the Utah-BYU game on Sept. 21 averaged 1.263,000 viewers and a 0.8 rating on ESPN2, more than the USU-SJSU and BYU-Middle Tennessee games combined.