Fall is likely the most popular season in the year for sports fans. That’s because it’s the sign that football is back. It’s been a long offseason waiting for football to return, but now that it’s back you can rejoice, sit on your couch, and enjoy an entire weekend of football.
College football Saturdays are some of the best days of there year as you watch the best teams in the nation fight week in and week out to keep their season going strong. There is something about watching college football, without the big paychecks and bravado, that can’t be beaten.
Thankfully, even if you don’t have cable you can watch plenty of college football all season long. Let’s take a look at your options.
Watch Some of the Best Games of the Week with an Antenna
Each week some of the best match-ups of the week get chosen to be broadcast on the main network channels like CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX. An antenna actually gets you full access to all of these games each week. It receives these channels from the over-the-air network broadcasts and lets you watch on your TV in perfect, crisp high-definition picture.
It’s one of the best deals out there for cable cutters, especially considering many of the games on these channels normally feature at least one of the top teams in the nation or big, ongoing rivalries. There are some great antennas out there and with the improved reception range on the newer models it’ll be a great way to watch plenty of college football without cable.
Use Streaming Services to Watch College Football
There are a couple great streaming services out there that act as a full cable alternative. They are much cheaper than that expensive cable bill and include some of the most popular channels to live stream.
Sling TV
One of the earliest services to let you stream cable channels, Sling TV only costs $20 per month for the basic package (Sling Orange) that will be critical for you to watch college football. About half of college football games are aired across ESPN networks and the subscription to Sling TV lets you watch ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3 (by logging in to WatchESPN with a Sling TV credential). Plus, WatchESPN also allows you to watch any games on ABC as well.
Additionally, you can ramp up the college football package with Sling TV’s Sports Extra add-on package. It only costs $5 more per month. For just $5 a month you get channels like ESPNU, ESPN Goal Line, the SEC Network, and more. This is huge for all of you SEC fans out there.
Also, Sling TV’s other subscription costs $25 per month and includes FOX channels like FS1, FS2, regional FOX Sports networks, and FOX in some locations live (on-demand everywhere). You lose out on the ESPN channels or you can always just combine the two, which only costs $40 per month. Still way cheaper than a cable package and you can cancel at any time.
PlayStation Vue
PlayStation Vue is structured very similarly to Sling TV. It even offers a similar cable channel package as the combined Sling Orange and Sling Blue for just $29.99 per month with ESPN, ESPN2, WatchESPN access, FS1, FS2, and even FOX live in certain areas.
Once again, you can pay about $5 more per month and get ESPNU, SEC Network, and other channels added to your package. But, the only downside is there are currently some limitations out there around streaming outside of your home. So, it might be something to look into if you like streaming from your phone on-the-go.
Potentially Get College Football on WatchESPN
Based on which provider you buy your internet through, you might be able to get WatchESPN free online. You can take a look at the list of internet providers and maybe get lucky if yours is on there. It’s slightly different than the WatchESPN experience from the above services, because you can only watch online and only get ESPN3. But, still a solid option if any games are coming on ESPN3 since it’s an easy way to watch for free.
You Can Even Watch Bowl Games Without Cable
The fun doesn’t stop at the end of the regular season. All of these options above can offer you plenty of options to watch the college bowl games as well. ESPN airs a bunch of bowl games, so you can use either Sling TV or PlayStation Vue to watch those. Plus, the other ones on ABC and CBS can be watched on the antenna. The cheapest setup would be an antenna and Sling TV combined to watch just about every college bowl game without spending a fortune on cable.
Overall, hopefully you can tell it is pretty easy to cut cable and not miss out on nearly any of the college football games. You can check out this schedule to see exactly which options you’ll need to watch your favorite teams play. Leave a comment below if you have any more questions!
