ESPN ratings are bowling over so far

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/

FROM KEITH GROLLER

ESPN has been quite happy with its ratings for its college bowl game coverage, according to Variety.

Wednesday's Rose Bowl featuring Michigan State's upset win over Stanford drew approximately 20 million viewers and a 17 percent increase over last year's Stanford-Wisconsin game.

Also, the Wednesday night Fiesta Bowl game, which ended well after midnight and featured non-glamor teams Central Florida and Baylor, featured a 9 percent increase over the previous year's Northern Illinois-Florida State game.

And, even the New Year's Eve Chick-Fil-A Bowl between Duke and Texas A&M seemed to benefit from having a former Heisman Trophy winner involved. Johnny Manziel's last collegiate game gave ESPN its best ratings for any bowl game outside the BCS.

Considering the snowstorm pounding the East Coast and keeping many people indoors in search of something interesting to do on Thursday night, expect the Alabama-Oklahoma Sugar Bowl, also on ESPN,  to draw record-breaking numbers as well.

ESPN will probably hope for more inclement weather to boost its numbers for Monday night's national title game.

Many people believe  -- and I would agree as I type this before the Sugar Bowl kickoff -- that Alabama is still the nation's best team and Tide quarterback A.J. McCarron still has to be considered one of the most successful quarterbacks in college football history despite that freak play knocking Alabama out of the national title game.