The Ohio State Buckeyes won the CFP National Championship and the Colorado Buffaloes' Travis Hunter (now of the Jacksonville Jaguars) took the Heisman Trophy last season, but anyone who's ever tried making sense of the college football broadcasting landscape knows the true MVPs of any season: streaming services.
You can watch college football 25/26 from anywhere with a VPN.
The 25/26 college football season runs from August 23, 2025 to January 19, 2026.
• U.S. — ESPN Ultimate / Sling TV / Fubo / YouTube TV / Hulu + Live TV
• Watch anywhere — Try NordVPN 100% risk free
College football broadcasting rights are staggeringly convoluted in the U.S., with games set to be shown across more than 20 separate networks and services for the 2025/26 campaign.
Instead of adding individual channels to your cable setup, you'll be much better-off choosing between ESPN Ultimate, Sling TV, Fubo, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV, which each carry the vast majority of the networks you need, grouping them under a single umbrella. They're all far cheaper than cable too.
With the Texas Longhorns, Clemson Tigers and Arizona State Sun Devils all vying to dethrone the Ohio State Buckeyes, check out all of the TV and streaming details below to find out how to watch college football from anywhere.
Watch college football 25/26 from anywhere
Away from home at the moment and blocked from watching the football on your usual subscription?
You can still watch college football 25/26 live thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software allows your devices to appear to be back in your home country regardless of where in the world you are, making it ideal for viewers away on vacation or on business. Our favorite is NordVPN — we explain why in our NordVPN review.
Using a VPN is incredibly simple.
1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite.
2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you're in the U.K. and want to view an American service, you'd select U.S. from the list.
3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to Sling or another streaming service and watch college football 25/26.
Which channels are showing college football in 25/26?
As mentioned above, more than 20 different channels and streaming services will air at least one college football game this year — including 18 that are traditional broadcast or cable TV networks.
The good news is that if you have a cable TV alternative, you can get access to most or all of these channels.
Here's the full list of every channel that will show college football this season:
- ABC
- ACC Network
- Big Ten Network
- CBS
- CBS Sports Network
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- ESPNU
- ESPN Deportes (Spanish language)
- ESPN Select (streaming service)
- Fox
- Fox Deportes (Spanish language)
- FS1
- FS2
- NBC
- NFL Network
- Peacock (streaming service)
- SEC Network
- The CW
- TNT
- TruTV
College football channels by conference
NCAA Division I college football comprises two subdivisions: Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
FBS games are the ones most people think of when they think of college football. Teams like Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, USC — the big programs — are all in FBS conferences like the SEC, ACC and Big Ten.
For the purposes of this guide, we're focusing on FBS games, but if you want to watch FCS games for teams like South Dakota State, Villanova and Harvard, you can typically find FCS games on the ABC/ESPN family of Disney-owned networks: ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN Plus.
Below, you can find a breakdown of which channels air games for the 10 FBS conferences.
American Athletic Conference (AAC)
- ABC
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- ESPNU
- ESPN Select (streaming service)
- NFL Network
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)
- ABC
- ACC Network
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- ESPNU
- ESPN Select (streaming service)
- The CW
Big 12 Conference
- ABC
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- ESPNU
- ESPN Select (streaming service)
- FOX
- FS1
Big Ten Conference
- Big Ten Network
- CBS
- FOX
- FS1
- NBC
- Peacock (streaming service)
Conference USA
- CBS Sports Network
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- ESPNU
- ESPN Select (streaming service)
- NFL Network
FBS Independent schools (Notre Dame and University of Connecticut)
- CBS Sports Network
- ESPN
- ESPN Select (streaming service)
- NBC
- Peacock (streaming service)
Mid-American Conference (MAC)
- CBS Sports Network
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- ESPNU
- ESPN Select (streaming service)
- NFL Network
Mountain West Conference
- CBS
- CBS Sports Network
- FOX
- FS1
- TruTV
Southeastern Conference (SEC)
- ABC
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- ESPN2
- ESPNU
- ESPN Select (streaming service)
- SEC Network
Sun Belt Conference
- ABC
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- ESPNU
- ESPN Select (streaming service)
- NFL Network
How to watch college football live streams in the U.S.
If you've cut the cord, you'll need a cable TV alternative towatch college football this season. There are several options to choose from.
ESPN Unlimited is brand-new, but should be your first port of call. It carries ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network, SEC Network+, Longhorn Network, ACC Network and ACC Network Extra, plus ESPN Select (formerly ESPN Plus), which has a ton of exclusive games.
ESPN Unlimited costs $29.99/month or $299.99/year, but for a limited time you can bundle it with Disney Plus and Hulu for $29.99/month for 12 months, after which it'll cost $35.99/month.
Sling is the cheapest cable alternative we recommend. Sling Orange costs $46/month and carries ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and TNT. Sling Blue costs $51/month and carries local NBC, ABC and Fox affiliates in select markets, as well as FS1, NFL Network, TNT and TruTV.
You can combine them both for $66/month and subscribe to the Sports Extras addon for an additional $9/month, which unlocks ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPNU, SEC Network and more.
Fubo is a more complete option, but it's more expensive too. Unlike Sling, Fubo offers CBS as well as NBC, ABC and Fox regardless of your media market. It also offers CBS Sports Network, along with every other channel you need for college football, bar Peacock and ESPN Select.
Fubo starts at $84.99/month, and SEC Network and ACC Network aren't included as standard in all regions, in which case you'll need to pay $7.99/month extra for the Fubo Extra addon, which also grants access to ESPNU.
If you can live without CBS, Sling might be the more cost-efficient choice.
There are two further cable alternatives worth considering. YouTube TV is great for watching sports and offers features like multiview and key plays. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer the SEC Network, which is a dealbreaker for a lot of college football fans.
There's also Hulu + Live TV, which carries all the channels you need and gives you an ESPN Select subscription. However, at $83/month it's pricey. Depending on what you need, you might be better off combining Sling Blue with ESPN Unlimited.
Peacock has some exclusive college football games, but it also offers NBC coverage as a simulcast if you sign up for the $10.99/month Premium tier.
Paramount Plus offers CBS coverage as a simulcast via the $12.99/month Premium tier.
Max also live streams select games that are being televised on TNT. Max starts at $9.99/month.
How to watch college football live streams in the U.K.
Sky Sports typically airs up to three college football games throughout the regular season, and every bowl game.
Sky Sports subscribers can also tune in on mobile devices via the Sky Go app that's available for iOS, iPadOS and Android devices, along with Xbox and PlayStation consoles.
If you want to sign up, you can check out Sky TV deals and packages for today's best prices. Or, if you don't fancy being locked into a contract, you could opt for a NOW Sports membership with plans starting at £14.99 a month.
Of course, if you're in the U.K., you can always use NordVPN to watch your U.S. streaming services abroad.
How to watch college football live streams in Canada
Unfortunately for Canadian football fans, ESPN has a monopoly on college football games, with TSN offering ESPN coverage in English and RDS in French. Games can also be watched via TSN Plus.
A subscription lets you get access to all TSN has to offer for just $8/month or $80/year subscription basis.
You can always use NordVPN to tap into your U.S. subscriptions if you're just traveling north of the border for work or on vacation.
How to watch college football live streams in Australia
Fans in Australia will find select college football games on ESPN via Foxtel.
Don't have Foxtel and don't want to subscribe? The games will also be shown on specialist streaming service Kayo Sports, with its affordable, commitment-free plans starting from just $25/month, and hosting plenty of NFL, cricket, AFL, rugby, F1 and loads of other live sports besides.
There's also a 7-day FREE trial for anybody who hasn't used the service before.
Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like NordVPN to watch all the action on your Kayo account as if you were back home.
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We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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