How to watch Northern Illinois vs. No. 22 Iowa 2026 college football game
The Hawkeyes will welcome NIU to Kinnick on Saturday afternoon to kick off the 2026 season.
The No. 22 Iowa Hawkeyes will open the 2026 college football season on Saturday, Sept. 5, as they host the Northern Illinois Huskies at Kinnick Stadium. Iowa is coming off a 9-4 season and a ReliaQuest Bowl win, while Northern Illinois begins its first season as a member of the Mountain West after a 3-9 campaign. The Hawkeyes have won nine of the 10 all-time meetings, but NIU’s lone victory came at Kinnick in 2013, so there is at least a little history for the Huskies to cling to. The game will kick off at 4:15 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network. If you are looking for a live TV streaming service with the best mix of channels and price, we recommend streaming the game and the entire college football season with a subscription to Sling TV. You can also stream it on Fox One.
How to watch Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Northern Illinois Huskies
- When: Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET
- TV: Big Ten Network
- Stream: Watch with a subscription to Sling TV or on Fox One.
- From anywhere: Watch with a subscription to a VPN.
Everything you need to know to stream Iowa vs. Northern Illinois
Why we recommend Sling TV to watch Iowa vs. Northern Illinois
Sling TV has long been one of our top choices for watching college football, thanks to its everyday low price and mix of channels — especially in larger markets. At just $46 per month, you can sign up for either the Sling Orange or Blue base plans, depending on which channel lineup makes the most sense for your viewing needs. In this case, Sling Orange would be your best bet to watch the Iowa vs. Northern Illinois game, since it is airing on ESPN. Of course, you could always get Sling Orange and Sling Blue for just $61 monthly and have access to all of the streamer’s base package channels.
Related: How to watch the 2026-27 college football season
However, customers who don’t need a full month of Sling service can sign up to watch via Sling’s new Passes. Sling’s Day Pass will allow you to sign up for its Orange plan for one day for just $5, and though you’ll still need the Sling Sports Extra pack to watch Tennis Channel, you can add this to your bundle for only $1 with a Day Pass.
That means you can pay just $6 to watch the Iowa vs. Northern Illinois game with Sling TV, which is far less than you’ll be asked to pay at other streaming services. That lower price and heightened flexibility are why we recommend Sling TV most highly for watching the entire 2026 college football season.
Sling TV
Sling TV is The Streamable’s choice for cord-cutters on a budget. Sling is a live TV streaming service with multiple channel packages. The $45.99/month Sling Orange plan offers about 30 channels, including Disney Channel and ESPN. The $45.99/month Sling Blue plan offers about 40 channels, including ABC, Fox, and NBC in major markets.
You can combine Orange+Blue for a total of $60.99 / month. Sling also offers many channel add-on packages starting at $6/month.
Can you watch Iowa vs. Northern Illinois for free?
If you are just looking for a streaming service to watch this specific game and nothing else, there are options available for you. DIRECTV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, and YouTube TV all offer free trials, but they vary in length, so be wary. DIRECTV’s industry-leading trial runs for five days, while Hulu + Live TV’s is a solid three days.
Those are pretty straightforward, but when it comes to the sports-minded streamer Fubo, things can get a little complicated. As The Streamable’s expert David Satin discovered when signing up for the service, figuring out how long Fubo’s trial is — even as you are signing up — can be a bit difficult. Nonetheless, it will be at least one day, with the potential to be as many as seven, depending on a wide range of factors that Fubo does not share publicly.
The YouTube TV trial is said to be “up to two weeks,” but can be as short as two days. So it is difficult to ascertain what you are actually getting before you go through the sign-up process.
If you are looking to watch the game for free, I would recommend DIRECTV, because that streamer has the longest guaranteed free trial and gives you the best channel options. There is one non-live TV streaming service option that offers a free trial, but more on that below.
| DIRECTV | Fubo | Hulu | Sling TV | YouTube TV | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Free Trial | Free 3-Day Trial | Save with Sling | Free Trial | |||||
| $20.99 | $9.99 | $28.99 | $19.99 | $29.99 | $45.99 | $45.99 | $64.99 | ||
| Big Ten Network | + $15 | + $59 | + $61 | - | - | - | + $11 | ✓ | |
What are all of the streamers you can use to watch the Iowa vs. Northern Illinois?
Fortunately for football fans, there are six different streaming services that will stream the game, so you have options to choose from if you don’t already subscribe to any of them. We discussed Sling and the free trial options above, but there is one more, and it offers a different type of streaming arrangement.
Just over a year ago, Fox launched a new streaming service called Fox One. The streamer is the home for everything available on Fox’s linear channels, including the Fox and the Big Ten Network. That means that the Indiana vs. North Texas game will be available via the service. Fox One offers a seven-day free trial, and then costs $20 per month thereafter.
Fox One
Launched August 21, 2025, Fox One is a direct-to-consumer streaming service from Fox Corporation. Billed as a “major digital initiative,” Fox One brings together the full range of Fox’s leading news, sports, and entertainment brands, offering live and on-demand access in one unified platform.
Watch a preview of Iowa vs. Northern Illinois
How to watch Iowa vs. Northern Illinois with a VPN
If you’ll be away from home and can’t watch the game as you normally would, you can still catch all of the action, no matter where you are in the world, with a VPN. A VPN can be used on your phone, tablet, or computer and make you appear to be back home — even when you’re not — making sure you feel at home no matter where you are. A VPN is a safe and secure way to stay protected online while streaming your favorite sports, movies, and shows on the go. Keep in mind that you will still need to be subscribed to a live TV streaming like Sling TV in order to stream the game with a VPN.
ExpressVPN is one of the best providers around, at one of the best prices. Currently, you can get a month of service for as little as $5. ExpressVPN is the most-trusted VPN on the market and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. ExpressVPN has servers in 105 countries, best-in-class encryption, 24-hour live support, and the best speeds available.
While ExpressVPN is our recommendation for the best VPN to use while you are traveling, there are a number of other high-quality options available depending on what you are looking for.
- Most Secure: NordVPN | Starting at $3.09 per month
- Best Budget Option: Surfshark | Starting at $2.50 per month
- Best Free Option: Proton VPN | Free plan available
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