I am going to punch holes in the TV rankings I posted yesterday.
First, Nielson does not rate games on the SEC Network, ACC network, CBS Sports Network, PAC-12 Network, ESPN+ and Peacock. Second, Vandy only had one game that was not on the SEC Network (against Alabama with 2.46 million viewers), so their raking is not actually Vandy's, but Bama's for that game.
Others have posted some very good counter points to this, but one thing is clear. You ratings for each game are impacted to large extent by the time slot and Network where your games are played. And the selection of games that were Nielson rated. Bowl games and CFP were not included.
There was discussion earlier about Missouri. They only had six of their games included in the Nielson ratings: Memphis 730 PM on ESPNU(181K), LSU Noon on ESPN (2.34M), uga 330 PM on CBS (7.00M); Tennessee 330 PM on CBS (3.62M); Florida 730 on ESPN (2.27M); Arkansas Fri 400 PM on CBS (4.09M). Their not-Nielson rated games were South Dakota, Middle Tenn, Kansas St, Vandy, Kentucky, & S Carolina. Clearly, time and network mean a ton toward your TV viewership numbers. And, who decides the network and time slot for each game? ESPN. Who benefits most from those ratings? ESPN. My question is about whether Missouri football is really a lot more popular than GT football, or is Missouri getting more favorable TV slots because they are in the SEC?