No. 1 vs. No. 2 can’t beat Colts’ first loss

Although Saturday’s Ohio State-Michigan game drew college football’s highest television rating in 13 years, Sunday’s NFL game between Indianapolis and Dallas did even better.

The No. 1-ranked Buckeyes’ 42-39 victory over the No. 2 Wolverines on ABC drew a “fast national” rating of 13.4 and was seen in 14,960,000 households by 21,770,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The Cowboys’ 21-14 victory over the previously unbeaten Colts received an overnight rating of 15.8, making it the highest-rated NFL game on any network this season. CBS protected that game under the NFL’s new flexible scheduling. Sunday’s San Diego-Denver game, which was moved to nighttime for NBC, drew a 10.4 overnight rating.

The 13.4 for Ohio State-Michigan was the highest rating for a regular-season college football game since a 1993 game between Florida State and Notre Dame, which drew a 16.0 rating and was seen in 15,072,000 households by 22,018,952 viewers.

The 12:30 p.m. Ohio State-Michigan game had a 9.3 rating in Los Angeles. USC-California, which was on ABC at 5 p.m., had a 9.9 in L.A.

Meanwhile, the Ohio State-Michigan game will be shown again on ESPN Classic on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and on ESPNU on Thursday at 6 p.m. It is also available on ESPN’s broadband service, ESPN360, and can be purchased and downloaded from Apple’s iTunes Store for $1.99.

Larry Stewart

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Penn State Coach Joe Paterno, the National Football Foundation’s 2006 Gold Medal co-recipient and originally a 2006 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, will be forced to miss the Dec. 5 induction and award ceremonies in New York. Paterno now becomes a member of the class of 2007 and will receive his formal Hall of Fame induction on Dec. 4, 2007, when he can be present. He will be enshrined in the summer of 2008.

Because of injuries suffered on the sideline during the Nov. 4 Penn State-Wisconsin game, Paterno has been ordered by his doctor to limit his travel for at least six weeks. At the Dec. 5 event, fellow recipient Bobby Bowden will accept the organization’s highest honor on behalf of both men.

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The Big 12 Conference’s supervisor of officials said that the crew working Saturday’s Missouri-Iowa State game made a wrong call that nullified what would have been the go-ahead touchdown late in the Tigers’ 21-16 loss to the Cyclones.

Walt Anderson, who heads the Big 12 officials, apologized to Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel for the error and said his crew “made a mistake” when offensive lineman Monte Wyrick was called for holding on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line with 26 seconds left in the game.

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Idaho State fired Coach Larry Lewis and his entire staff Monday, a day after the Bengals completed a 2-9 season.

Lewis had a 40-49 record in eight seasons.

From the Associated Press