A future SEC rivalry between two of college football’s most storied programs was born in last Saturday’s dramatic showdown between Alabama and Texas.

While the field-level temperature reached 118 degrees by the game’s end, the heat index was not the only number scorched in the action-packed game.

The 20-19 thriller, which saw Tide quarterback Bryce Young lead his team to a come-from-behind victory over the Longhorns, emerged as one of the most-viewed college football games in Fox Sports history.

The network announced Tuesday that its “Big Noon Saturday” matchup garnered an average of 10.595 million viewers. The broadcast from DKR Texas Memorial Stadium topped ABC’s Notre Dame-Ohio State primetime game, according to Sports Media Watch.

The nail-biter was Alabama’s most-watched game since its 2019 No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup with LSU. That game saw the West Division rivals garner attendance in Bryant-Denny Stadium from ESPN’s “College GameDay” and former President Donald Trump.

Saturday’s showdown in Austin emerged as the most-watched college football game across any network, according to Fox Sports. Additionally, the game was the fourth most-viewed broadcast in the network’s history.

Reacting to the viewership ratings Tuesday, University of Alabama Athletics Director Greg Byrne tweeted that games such as the one that unfolded Saturday were “good for college football.”

Strong numbers. Matchups like these are good for college football.#RollTide 🏈 https://t.co/nlY5tjtQrC

— Greg Byrne (@Greg_Byrne) September 13, 2022

Texas, along with the University of Oklahoma, is set to join college football’s pre-eminent conference by 2024 at the latest. The two Big 12 schools officially accepted the SEC’s invitation to join the conference last July.

Dylan Smith is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL