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File this under "SEC is still the King": Last weekend's SEC Championship Game in Atlanta drew the largest national TV audience of any college football game this season. (via the AJC)
No. 2 Alabama beat No. 3 Georgia 32-28 in an exciting game from start to finish, and CBS said the national telecast drew a 9.8 Nielsen rating, which means nearly 10 percent of the country's televisions were tuned to the game. An average of 16.2 million people watched the game, with a high of 21.8 million viewers during the final hour.
The highest market to watch the game was, not surprisingly, Birmingham, which drew a whopping 52.6 rating. Other top markets were Atlanta (32.2), Jacksonville (22.7), New Orleans (21.5) and Nashvhille (21.0). The rating in Atlanta is the highest for any football game this year, topping the Atlanta Falcons' win over the New Orleans Saints last Thursday, which drew a 31.8.