Last year’s Orange Bowl was one for the ages. It featured the two most-winning coaches in NCAA Division I-A history, Florida State’s Bobby Bowden and Penn State’s Joe Paterno, squaring off in a game that went to overtime before the Nittany Lions finally prevailed.

So it was no surprise that ratings for this year’s Orange Bowl, which matched the considerably less-popular Wake Forest and Louisville in a comparative snoozer, took a tumble. But just how steep that tumble may end up being is a bit of a surprise.

From 8:31 p.m. to 11 p.m., Fox averaged a 3.6 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen overnights, finishing well behind No. 1 NBC at 4.1 and down more than a third from last year’s 6.5 for the Orange Bowl.

The game, which ran until 11:51 p.m., drew 10.6 million total viewers, just over half of last year’s 18.5 million for the Orange Bowl airing on ABC. That's according to time-adjusted fast nationals released by Fox this afternoon.

The overnights are based on early ratings provided by Nielsen that measure timeslot data, not actual program data. Once final ratings are released later today,  a more accurate picture will emerge, as the game lasted well past the 11 p.m. end of primetime. But it seems safe to say that the bowl took a big tumble from last year.

That’s in large part because last year’s numbers were inflated by the historic coaching matchup. But thus far, Fox’s two Bowl Championship Series games have finished behind the two games on ABC last year in the former network’s first year of carrying the BCS.

Last year ABC dominated every night of BCS coverage. Fox finished behind NBC last night and performed merely decently with Monday’s Fiesta Bowl.

Still, this may help produce Fox’s biggest week of the year so far, as the network has struggled in the first half of the season.

NBC finished first for the night among viewers 18-49 with a 4.1 average rating and a 10 share. Fox was second at 3.4/9, CBS third at 2.5/6, ABC fourth at 2.0/5, Univision fifth at 1.6/4 and CW sixth at 0.8/2.
 
Fox took the first hour of the night among 18-49s with a 3.1 average at 8 p.m. for football pregame and the first part of its game between Wake and Louisville. CBS was second with a 3.0 for a repeat of “NCIS,” NBC third with a 2.9 for “Dateline” and ABC fourth with a 2.7 for a repeat of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” That left Univision fifth with a 2.3 for “La Fea Mas Bella” and CW sixth with a 0.9 for a “Gilmore Girls” rerun.
 
NBC took the lead at 9 p.m. with a 4.1 for “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” Fox fell to second with a 3.7 for its coverage of the Orange Bowl, with CBS third with a 2.6 for a repeat of “The Unit” and ABC fourth with a 1.8 for an hour of “Big Day.” Univision was fifth with a 1.5 for “Mundo de Fieras” and CW sixth with a 0.6 for a repeat of “Veronica Mars.”
 
At 10 p.m. NBC led again, this time with a 5.2 for “Law & Order: SVU.” CBS was second during the hour with a 1.9 for a “Numb3rs” rerun, ABC third with a 1.5 for a repeat of “Boston Legal” and Univision fourth with a 1.2 for “Ver para Creer.”
 
NBC also finished first for the night among households, averaging an 8.6 rating and a 13 share. Fox was second at 6.4/10, CBS third at 6.2/10, ABC fourth at 3.9/6, Univision fifth at 2.1/3 and CW sixth at 1.3/2.