I have posted about this elsewhere, but in essence ... your game time and channel are about 1 million times more important for your TV ratings than anything else. Here are our ratings so far:
512k vs. Wyoming - 3:00 pm on BTN
965k at Indiana - 7:00 pm (Friday) on FS1
159k vs. Virginia - 3:00 pm on ESPNU ... this channel is a ratings GRAVEYARD
176k vs. Chattanooga - 7:30 pm (Thursday) on BTN
573k at Wisconsin - 11:00 am on BTN
855k vs. Iowa - 6:30 pm on BTN
Minnesota was obviously an 11:00 am BTN game, and it competed with a massively hyped Michigan/PSU game on FOX ... so if we pull anything close to those Iowa or even Wisconsin ratings, I will consider it a massive win. While those ratings don't look great, they actually compare well with other "big fan base/good draw" teams in our own conference who have been placed in similar time slots on BTN or FS1 ... for example, PSU drew 628k for a 12:00 pm EST game against Central Michigan on BTN, and Wisconsin drew under 500k (i.e., worse than our Wyoming game) for both of its games on BTN this year vs. Illinois State and New Mexico State.
Conversely, when we actually played on decent channels last year, we got pretty good ratings - 3.77 million at Penn State when we played at 11:00 am on ABC and 3.22 million when we played Nebraska at 12:00 pm on FOX to open the season. Those were both in line with what those schools drew other games, so no big Illini drop-off. We have the following opportunities to really see if the Illini can be the TV draw that I believe they can be this season:
at Nebraska (2:30 pm on ABC/ESPN)
vs. Michigan State ... on this weekend, the "big draws" play kind of crappy games - OSU at NU, MICH at RUT and PSU at IU ... I think there is a good chance we at least avoid BTN or FS1.
vs. Purdue ... Another week weekend in the Big Ten, and the only "ratings rivals" games are Iowa/Wisconsin and Michigan/Nebraska. The former has WAY less appeal than most years, and the potential stakes of the Illini/Purdue game (if we can both keep winning...) just might outweigh the traditional appeal of Michigan/Nebraska. This has the potential to be another ABC/ESPN game or maybe even FOX...
at Michigan ... Unless one of us REALLY messes up in the meantime, you would think this is practically guaranteed to be primetime viewing, as things stand now...
at Northwestern ... given the other ACTUAL rivalries going on that weekend, this one is likely destined for a crap time on BTN or FS1 (or, God forbid, ESPNU), and any quality ratings we can deliver will be genuinely impressive.