The Associated Press

NEW YORK - The Fiesta Bowl drew the highest television rating since the Bowl Championship Series started pairing the top teams for the national title after the 1998 season.

ABC reported an 18.6 rating for Ohio State's thrilling 31-24 double-overtime victory against Miami on Friday night - a 30.7-percent jump from last year's national championship, when Miami routed Nebraska 37-14 in the Rose Bowl.

The ratings were measured in the country's 55 largest markets. Nationwide ratings will be released Monday.

The Buckeyes won their fourth national title, and first since the 1968 season, when Maurice Clarett scored from 5 yards out in the second overtime. Miami failed to score on its possession when Ken Dorsey's pass was batted down on fourth-and-1. The sensational finish capped the first overtime game in the BCS' five-year history.

Viewers tuned out last year's game, a mismatch between the undefeated Hurricanes and the Cornhuskers, who made it to Pasadena despite losing to Colorado 62-36. The Rose Bowl had a rating of 14.3, compared with the Orange Bowl the season before, which had a 17.8 rating for Oklahoma's 13-2 win over Florida State.

Interest in Friday night's game bounced back sharply as the Buckeyes and 'Canes met in a battle of unbeatens. The rating peaked during the dramatic final half-hour, garnering a 22.3.

The four highest-rated markets were in Ohio: Columbus (52.1), Cleveland (42.7), Dayton (38.5) and Cincinnati (33.6). West Palm Beach, Fla., was seventh (26.1), Orlando was 10th (25.2) and Miami was tied with Atlanta for 11th (25.0).

The Fiesta was the highest-rated of the 20 games played under the BCS format.

It was the highest-rated national championship game since ABC and CBS began sharing coverage of the Bowl Alliance in the 1995 season. Nebraska's 62-24 victory over Florida in the Fiesta Bowl, the Huskers' second straight national title, drew a 17.3 rating on CBS. Three years later, the BCS began, implementing a formula to ensure that the nation's No. 1 and No. 2 teams would meet for the title.

The four BCS games this season - the Fiesta, Rose, Sugar and Orange bowls - drew a combined rating of 50.3, up 16.4 percent over last year. The rating of 43.2 for the 2002 games was the lowest since the BCS' inception, and well off the 55.5 for the 2001 games.