The LSU-Alabama game drew 16.636 million viewers for CBS, making it the most-watched college football game of the season.

CBS said LSU’s 46-41 victory against Alabama, a matchup of the AP Top 25’s No. 1 and No. 2 teams, scored a 9.7 rating, the highest for any regular-season college football game on any network in eight years.

The Tigers and Crimson Tide kicked off in the afternoon for the first time since 2010 because CBS had used its one night game on Notre Dame-Georgia in September. That was the previous most-watched game of the season at 9.349 million viewers.

Overall, the “SEC on CBS” is having its best year through 11 weeks since 1990, averaging 7.091 viewers.

That’s up 39% from last year’s 5.088 million.