UCF took center stage this weekend when it hosted ESPN's College GameDay and ABC's Saturday night football.
The move appears to have paid off for ESPN/ABC, with the network reporting Sunday it drew big television ratings for both shows.
According to ESPN, its College GameDay show from Memory Mall on campus, drew a 1.4 overnight rating, which was up 8 percent from last year's show at this time. In Orlando, Fla., the show earned a 3.9 overnight rating, tying the market's best rating for the pregame show since 2010.
ABC's broadcast of the No. 11 UCF versus No. 24 Cincinnati game from Spectrum Stadium was the highest rated primetime college football game of the week, delivering a 2.3 overnight television rating.
According to tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com,the game delivered more than 3 million viewers.
For example, the Kansas-Oklahoma game on Fox Sports at the same time drew just 2.6 million viewers.
As expected, the top two markets for the Knights' 38-13 win were Orlando and Cincinnati, respectively. In Orlando, the game drew the market's best numbers for an ESPN/ABC game this season. In Cincinnati, the numbers surpassed the ratings for the Ohio State game against Maryland earlier in the day.
