How to watch college football on ESPN

Alabama's Jalen Milroe
Alabama's Jalen Milroe (Image credit: Brandon Sumrall/Getty Images)

If you're a college football fan, ESPN is a must-have to enjoy the most out of the 2024 college football season. While you can watch college football on CBS, NBC, Fox, Peacock, Paramount Plus and other platforms, having access to ESPN is key.

The sports leader features game coverage throughout the week, Saturday pre-game coverage with its fan-favorite College GameDay and it's going to be home to multiple games of the College Football Playoffs. Not to mention all of the talk about the big news of the season on the network’s shows like SportsCenter and Get Up.

So if you need to get access to the network, here's everything you need to know about how to watch college football on ESPN.

How to watch college football on ESPN 

Short and simple, to watch college football on ESPN (as well as ESPN2 and other ESPN channels that broadcast games) you need access to the cable channel through a traditional pay-TV provider or a live TV streaming service. In the case of the latter, Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV all offer ESPN as part of their channel lineup. The best value out of those is Sling TV's Orange, which is $40 per month ($20 for the first month) and gives you access to ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3. 

Once you have one of these services, you can watch ESPN on your TV, on your mobile device through the ESPN app or on your computer via ESPN.com.

For anyone wondering about ESPN Plus, yes, you can watch college football on ESPN Plus, but save for a few exceptions, the games that are available on the streaming platform each week are exclusive to the streamer; so you typically won't be able to stream a game airing on ESPN on ESPN Plus.

College football games on ESPN

College football season continues and ESPN has a full slate of games airing on Friday, September 6, and Saturday, September 7. Here are all of the games that are going to air on ESPN this week:

Friday, September 6

  • BYU vs SMU, 7 pm ET/4 pm PT, ESPN2

Saturday, September 7

  • Kansas State vs Tulane, noon ET/9 am PT, ESPN
  • Pittsburgh vs Cincinnati, noon ET/9 am PT, ESPN2
  • California vs Auburn, 3:30 pm ET/12:30 pm PT, ESPN2
  • South Florida vs Alabama, 7 pm ET/4 pm PT, ESPN
  • Virginia vs Wake Forest, 7 pm ET/4 pm PT, ESPN2
  • Liberty vs New Mexico State, 10:15 pm ET/7:15 pm PT, ESPN2
  • Mississippi State vs Arizona State, 10:30 pm ET/7:30 pm PT, ESPN
Michael Balderston

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.