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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Sun.-Mon., Dec. 31-Jan. 1)

By ED BARK
Paced by the electrifying Boise State-Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl, football pretty much owned the D-FW ratings on New Year's Day. Here's the Nielsen scorecard, from most- to least-watched. (Ratings reflect the overall average audience for the games on local broadcast stations.)

Fiesta Bowl (Fox) -- 311,780 homes
Rose Bowl, Michigan-Southern Cal (ABC) -- 276,080
Cotton Bowl, Auburn-Nebraska (Fox) -- 238,000
Capital One Bowl, Wisconsin-Arkansas (ABC) -- 142,800
Gator Bowl, W. Virginia-Georgia Tech (CBS) -- 59,500

Uncle Barky of course enjoyed his alma mater Badgers' win against the Razorbacks. But the Boise State-Oklahoma contest had possibly the greatest climactic moments in Bowl history. And yes, that even includes last year's Texas-Southern Cal national championship game.

OK, let's rewind to New Year Eve's, where the Dallas Cowboys' stinko performance against the Detroit Lions lured 687,820 homes. That's more than twice the audience for the Fiesta Bowl, proving that the Cowboys are D-FW's top draw no matter what.

In contrast, Sunday night's Green Packers-Chicago Bears matchup on NBC (Brett Favre's last game?) drew 168,980 homes locally. That was good enough to win the time slot, but more than half a million homes shy of what the Cowboys had.

In another realm, the battle of the New Year's Eve countdown specials was won by ABC, with Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest presiding. Carson Daly on NBC took second, with Fox's Cat Deeley-hosted party a distant third.
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