With many popular series in reruns, last weekend’s ratings were marked by unusual winners and losers, with networks powering through to the top spots with sports and movies.

On Sunday, the tail end of Fox’s NFL coverage boosted its average to win the night with a healthy 5.1 average, according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research reports, far above second-place NBC (4.2). Its NFL overrun (8.7) at 7 p.m. (ET) led the night, followed by “The OT” (5.9) and the “BCS Selection Show” (5.4), before its regular lineup of half-hour comedies kicked in.

NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” (4.9) was the network’s lowest-rated Sunday night game to date. ABC was third with reruns. CBS came in fourth with average episodes of “60 Minutes” (2.5), “Amazing Race” (3.5), “Cold Case” (3.9) and “Without a Trace” (3.9).

The CW continued its recent ratings uptick with “7th Heaven” (1.7) matching its prior season high.

On Saturday, football factored once again, with the last hour of CBS’s “SEC Championship: Arkansas vs. Florida” (2.8) going up against ABC’s “Saturday Night Football: Big 12 Championship: Nebraska vs. Oklahoma” (2.1).

CBS won the night, though 9 p.m.’s episode of “Shark” (3.0) was its top-rated show. ABC, which has won Saturday night the past couple of weeks, came in second with its college football matchup falling 58 percent from last week’s game.

Friday went to ABC, which won the night with its broadcast premiere of “The Polar Express” (4.1), giving the network its best Friday in three years. NBC was second with game show “1 vs. 100” (2.8) and a two-hour, season high episode of “Las Vegas” (3.2). Fox and CBS were tied for fourth. Fox aired “Justice” (1.4) and “Trading Spouses” (1.5). CBS had the two-hour “Ice Wars 2006” (1.3) and “Numb3rs” (1.9). The CW had “Smackdown” (1.4).