The Third Saturday in October was No. 1 in CBS’s viewing audience this season, the television network announced Tuesday.

The Crimson Tide-Volunteer showdown averaged 11.557 million viewers and peaked with close to 17 million. That marks a 145% increase from last year’s game and is the largest audience to watch the rivalry, according to viewership records dating back to 1987.

The viewership numbers also represent the most-watched game for CBS since the 2019 Alabama-LSU showdown.

Three of the top five most-viewed games this season have included the Crimson Tide. The second-most viewed game was the Alabama-Texas game in September (10.6 million viewers), and the other was Alabama-Texas A&M (7.15 million).

In 2020, the SEC and ESPN struck a deal that would move the premier conference’s Saturday slate from CBS to ESPN. The move will serve as a heavy blow to CBS as they will fill the void left by the SEC with the Big10.

According to SportsMediaWatch, the SEC has participated in seven of the nine most-watched games of the season. The Big10 has only drawn a top eleven audience twice thus far. Additionally, the SEC on CBS has drawn the most viewers in each of the five weeks they have aired a game.

The SEC/ESPN deal will go into effect ahead of the 2024 college football season.

Ben Richardson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News.