During football season, die-hard fans love to keep up with their favorite teams; it’s also the time of year they’re frantically trying to figure out how to watch college football streaming free.
While most of us have cut cable to save money, it also means that we may have cut out our ability to catch our favorite NCAA games. Of course, even with some streaming packages like Hulu Live TV or DirecTV Stream, these services can cost as much as $69.99 a month! (So much for saving money without cable!)
Before you watch college football streaming free with some shady, scammy, backdoor aggregator that will fill your computer with viruses, we’ve got a list of completely legit, safe places to watch your can’t-miss games.
The Disney Bundle gives you ESPN (and streaming college football games) for free.
We talk a lot about Disney Plus cost savings and whether the streaming service is worth the price. But if you’re super focused on getting ESPN — by far the most prolific broadcaster of college football games and bowls — consider the Disney Bundle.
You get ESPN Plus, Disney Plus, and Hulu with ads for $12.99/month — or an ad-free version for $19.99/month. Separately, each one would cost you $21.97/month for ads, $30.97 ad-free. In either case, the bundle saves you more than the monthly ESPN Plus cost of $6.99/month.
Currently, there isn’t a free trial for Disney Plus on its own, but if you’re a Verizon customer, you can get 6 months of the Disney Plus Bundle free.
Watch all CBS Sports college football broadcasts on Paramount Plus.
Any college football that’s broadcast on your local CBS station will be available for broadcast with CBS-affiliated Paramount Plus. For just $4.99/month, you can watch all of the SEC on CBS, Big Ten on CBS, and Mountain West on CBS games as they happen (or in replay).
They also play host to college football’s Sun Bowl game in late December. But is Paramount Plus worth it? We break it down.
Sling TV offers some Pac-12 college football games streaming free.
As part of their free account, Sling TV has the Pac-12 Insider channel, which rebroadcasts old college football games from the Pac-12 school. Sometimes these games are from the current season, but many times, they’re classic games from the past.
If you spring for a full-paid Sling TV subscription, you’ll need to get the Sling “Orange & Blue” subscription. You can stream with up to three devices at a time to catch ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, NFL network, and Fox Sports 1 for $55 a month.
To be able to stream the ACC Network, SEC Network, ESPN U, and Pac-12 Networks, you’ll need the Sports Extra add-on package for an additional $11 a month. While there’s no free trial for Sling, in December they took $10 off subscribers’ first three months.
Need to stream one particular game? These streaming services offer quick free trials that’ll get you the broadcast you need.
Long free trials of streaming services are harder and harder to come by, particularly if it’s a multichannel hub like Sling, FuboTV, or YouTube TV.
But if you just need ESPN for one week to watch the big bowl game or to pick up a game that’s being broadcast on a weird channel for whatever reason, here are your options:
- FuboTV: With a FuboTV subscription, you can stream the ACC Network, The Big Ten Network, ESPN, Pac-12 Networks, Stadium, and more. After your free 7-day trial, a FuboTV subscription will cost $69.99 a month, so make sure to set yourself a reminder to cancel.
- YouTube TV: YouTube TV is another hub for watching various cable channels, including the ACC Network, the Big Ten Network, CBS Sports, all of the ESPN channels, Fox Sports, the SEC Network, and Stadium. They also have a 1-week free trial, but if you don’t cancel in time, you’ll start paying $64.99/month.
Related: If you’re generally looking for free streaming services or longer free trials, have we got a list for you.
Notre Dame Fans can catch every home game streaming on Peacock TV Premium.
NBC Universal’s Peacock streaming service has plenty of free content, but if you’re a Notre Dame fan, you’re going to have to pay $4.99/month to upgrade to Premium. But once you do, you have access to all of the Fighting Irish’s home games.
The Irish had six home games during the 2022 season — between September and November — so to get the full season, you’d spend about $15 — making each game about $2.50. Pretty dang close to free!
BYU Cougars fans can watch all of their college football games streaming free with BYUTV.
Although BYU football is often streamed live on ESPN, you can catch all of the recaps — 42 seasons worth! — at the BYU football section of BYUTV.org. Full replays are available for free, plus recaps, interviews, and other sports features.
Here’s where you can stream your go-to channels:
Still a bit confused about which streaming service you’d need to sign up for to catch your leagues and teams? Look no further! Here’s the breakdown by channel so you know what streaming service you’d need to make sure you never miss a game.
- ACC Network: Hulu, YouTubeTV, Sling, and FuboTV
- Big Ten Network: Sling, FuboTV, YouTubeTV, and Hulu
- BYU TV: BYUTV.org
- CBS Sports: Paramount Plus, DirecTV Stream, Fubo TV, Hulu, and YouTube TV
- ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPN3: ESPN+, Hulu, YouTubeTV, Sling, and FuboTV
- Fox Sports: Hulu, YouTubeTV, Sling, and FuboTV
- Longhorn Network (Univ. Texas): ESPN+, Sling, and Hulu
- Pac-12 Network – Sling and FuboTV
- SEC Network – Hulu, Sling TV, and YouTube TV
- Stadium – WatchStadium.com (free), Samsung TV Plus, Roku Channel, YouTube TV, and Fubo
And you could always watch college football free with a TV antenna.
If you’re not ready to pony up for a cable or paid streaming service and you’re not sure about the free streaming sites to watch college football, you can watch TV the old-fashioned way. Most of us no longer have TV antennas, but you can buy a digital TV antenna online, and they’re relatively affordable, easy to install, and compact to store if you want to put it away after football season.
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