How to Watch College Football Without Cable

For college students, every football game is massively important. Often, there’s more passion involved than there is in the NFL! But how can you still cheer on your team after you ditch the cable?

Well, there are several ways to watch your favorite college football team without the cord. Read on to find out everything you need to know.

Are There Any Free Options?

Luckily, the answer is yes. You can watch your favorite college football team for free. How? – with an antenna. College football is available over the air. What’s more, it costs nothing.

Of course, you’ll have to pay to install the antenna, but the initial cost certainly pays off after you see how many channels you can catch for free. Most of them, like FOX, NBC, CBS, or ABC, will stream at least the most important NCAA games. Plus, these channels are likely to stream the Big Ten. The best thing about this is that you get to watch the games in HD. Just note that the channel availability depends on your region, and you may not be able to view all of them.

A downside is that not all of the crucial channels can be found over the air. For instance, you won’t be able to catch ESPN or specific networks like Big Ten or SEC with your antenna. Therefore, you may want to look at other possibilities.

How about streaming services? They’re not without cost, but you can use free trials to treat yourself to a month, or maybe more, of free college football games. These trials are obligation-free, so you can cancel the service once they’re over. Still, the best choice is to find a suitable replacement for your cable provider and stick with one of the streaming apps. Here are your options.

Note: It’s hard to find a service that covers all the necessary channels.

What Streaming Services Carry College Football?

The following streaming services will give you access to college football. You can watch the games on Sling TV, FuboTV, AT&T TV Now, Hulu + Live TV, College Sports Live, CBS All Access, and WatchESPN or ESPN+ apps.

How to Watch College Football with Sling TV

Sling TV is one of the most popular streaming services due to its excellent channel selection and affordability.

To watch college football with Sling TV, the best option is probably to choose one of the available packages for $30 a month and upgrade them with a sports add-on. The Orange plan includes ESPN channels, while you can watch FOX and NBC within the Blue plan. The sports add-on includes sports channels such as ESPNU, SEC Network, and Pac-12 and costs an additional $10 a month.

How to Watch College Football with FuboTV

FuboTV is another decent cable alternative as it has a pretty good channel line-up. Plus, the price isn’t too high. It’s great for families because the Family pack lets you stream on three devices simultaneously.

The Standard and Family plans are $54.99 and $59.99 a month, but they don’t contain ESPN channels. However, you can watch college football on CBS, FOX, or NBC. P-12 is also available in some areas. Unfortunately, that’s it when it comes to FuboTV sports channels as they don’t offer add-ons.

How to Watch College Football with AT&T TV Now

This streaming service is known for its fantastic plans and high compatibility. You can download the app on almost all devices, and you’re not required to sign a contract.

With the PLUS plan, the cheapest on AT&T TV Now’s offer, you get access to ABC, FOX, CBS, NBC, and ESPN channels. It means this package has got you covered for almost all college football games you’d want to watch. If you’re willing to pay an additional $15 per month for the MAX plan, you’ll also get the Big Ten Network, ESPNU, SEC Network, and other great channels.

How to Watch College Football with Hulu + Live TV

Hulu + Live TV has a single plan but offers more than 60 channels. You get to stream on two devices at the same time, and your monthly subscription is $54.99 – after you’re done with the free trial.

Hulu’s package includes multiple channels where you can watch college football. Those are ABC, CBS, Big Ten Network, ESPN channels (including ESPNU and ESPN Goal Line), FOX, NBC, SEC Network – everything. This might as well be the best choice if you want to avoid add-ons and additional hassle.

How to Watch College Football with YouTube TV

After you check out the YouTube TV free trial, you may decide this option suits you best. It’s a streaming service with a fantastic channel selection and an affordable price. There’s one plan that costs $49.99 a month.

YouTube TV allows you to stream on many devices, and it’s highly compatible. Some of the channels, like ABC, BCS, NBC, or FOX, are only available in specific areas. However, you can still watch college football on ESPN, ESPNU, Big Ten Network, or SEC Network wherever you live.

How to Watch College Football with College Sports Live

This is a streaming app you can sign up for regardless of your TV provider because it has its own monthly subscription.

Before you subscribe, you should check if your favorite team belongs to one of the 70 schools partnered with the service. If it does, you can check the program schedule and enjoy watching full-length games. It’s worth mentioning that the app has bigger partners as well, such as Notre Dame or Penn State. On the other hand, it doesn’t stream games aired on ESPN and other channels.

The service costs $9.95 a month.

How to Watch College Football with CBS All Access

CBS All Access is an excellent app for streaming live and on-demand content that enables you to watch available college football games.

The two versions let you choose the number of commercials you view. If you don’t want to see any of them, download the commercial-free edition for $9.99 a month. Be aware that this still doesn’t save you from the live TV ads. If you don’t mind commercial breaks, you can enjoy on-demand games for $5.99 per month.

How to Watch College Football with ESPN+ App

The ESPN+ app is an extremely affordable way to watch your favorite college football team. It’s a standalone service, so you don’t need a cable provider credentials to sign up like you used to with the WatchESPN app.

However, you can’t access just everything. You can watch your team if it belongs to a less popular division or college, but the most exciting games still air on ESPN. They’re not available via this app for now.

If you also like other sports, this app allows you to watch hockey and soccer, for example, or access the on-demand library and watch other original ESPN programs.

How to Watch College Football on Different Devices

Before you finally opt for one streaming service to subscribe to, check if it’s compatible with the devices you have.

Gaming consoles are compatible with the least number of streaming apps. They don’t have the appropriate support for popular services such as AT&T TV Now or FuboTV. However, you can use your Xbox with Hulu, Sling TV, or YouTube TV, and Hulu also works on PS4. You can also stream the ESPN app on Xbox One and PS4, and the CBS All Access app will work, too.

Android smartphones and tablets also support the ESPN app and all the other services mentioned in the article. The same goes for iPhones and iPads. You can download any streaming app from the App Store.

You can use Sling TV, Hulu, AT&T TV Now, YouTube TV, FuboTV, ESPN+ app, or CBS All Access to stream on Amazon Fire TVs, Android TVs, or Apple TVs. These streaming services are all available for download from the app stores.

Samsung or Vizio Smart TVs both support Hulu, CBS All Access, and YouTube TV, but you can also install Sling TV, AT&T TV Now, Fubo TV, or ESPN+ app on your Samsung Smart TV.

Roku devices support all the services featured in the article. Just check your Roku model before you subscribe to an app – older models may not have adequate support for all of them.

Chromecast 2^nd generation and Ultra devices also work with Sling TV, FuboTV, YouTube TV, and all the other apps from the article, including the ESPN+ app.

If you’re staying at home and want to stream college football via laptop or desktop computers, you can do it via your web browser. This is also a way to watch College Sports Live.

No Cable? No Problem!

No cable doesn’t mean no college football. It means no problem – you can find another way to enjoy watching your favorite college teams. Compare the prices and the channel selection from different services and decide before the new season starts. And don’t forget you can always listen to radio streams if nothing else works.

What’s going to be your pick? Let us know in the comments section below.