Interesting note out of the Big Ten Network -- looks like lots of people watched us Spartoonies kick some scUM butt.

"Big Ten Network Attracts Highest Viewership Ever
Football games were Saturday’s most-watched across nine metered markets

CHICAGO – The Big Ten Network on Saturday had the most-watched college football games of the day across the nine metered markets within the Big Ten area. The network also broke its own local viewing records in five of those markets, including Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Detroit.

The noon ET games, which featured the Michigan-Michigan State overtime thriller and Northwestern’s come-from-behind-win at Purdue, averaged a combined 4.7 household rating (HH) in the nine metered markets, the highest rating in the region throughout the day, exceeding all other football programming. The Ohio State-Indiana game in primetime attracted a 4.5 HH rating, to lead all college football primetime games in the region.

In addition, based on Nielsen metered market data, the network had the highest total number of viewers of any day in the network’s history.

“We were extremely pleased with the millions of viewers we had on Saturday,” Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman said. “It reflects positively on the network’s growth and shows that great things are on the horizon for our young network.”

The network’s Ohio State-Indiana game was the highest-rated program for the day across all television networks in Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton. Similarly, the Michigan-Michigan State game was the highest-rated program across all television networks in Detroit, while Northwestern-Purdue was the highest-rated program across all cable networks in Indianapolis.

During the afternoon time slot, the Big Ten Network beat its own individual market records in Chicago and in Detroit, where the Michigan-Michigan State game registered a 17.4 HH rating. The Michigan-Michigan State game also notably drew a 9.7 HH rating in Columbus, home of Ohio State.

The Ohio State-Indiana game also broke the network’s own individual market HH ratings records in Columbus (28.9), Dayton (16.6) and Cleveland (10.0). The 28.9 HH rating in Columbus is the highest single-game, single-market figure in network history, eclipsing last year’s Minnesota-Ohio State matchup, which posted a 24.4 HH rating.

Source: Nielsen Arianna Overnights (10/3/09). Metered Markets: Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Pittsburgh. "