especially if you look at last season's Thursday night games as a comparison. Even the game that preceded BYU's this year, recieved more than double the viewers. And Vanderbilt and South Carolina are not traditionally big tv draws.
Obviously, USC playing a bad team had no chance going up against two of the biggest names in college football, who were both ranked in the top 10.
I'll bet USC's first Thursday night ESPN game, blows the BYU/WSU ratings out of the water.