How to watch Texas vs. Ohio State 2025 college football game

Our long, national nightmare is over, college football fans. We made it through the offseason, we sludged our way through Week 0, the season is now ready to really get underway as the biggest marque matchup of the season is set to take place on Saturday, Aug. 30. The defending national champions, the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes will host the team they beat in the College Football Playoff semifinals less than eight months ago, the No. 1 Texas Longhorns at 12 noon ET in a game airing on Fox. For the best mix of channels and affordable price, we recommend streaming the game and the entire college football season with a subscription to Sling TV.

How to watch Ohio State vs. Texas

• When: Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025 at 12 noon ET
• TV: Fox
• Stream: Watch with a subscription to Sling TV.
• From anywhere: Watch with a subscription to a VPN.

Everything you need to know to stream Ohio State vs. Texas

Why we recommend Sling TV to watch Ohio State vs. Texas

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 Ohio State vs. Texas 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 get the most college football from Sling this 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 Ohio State vs. Texas 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 2025 college football season.

Now, keep in mind that Sling TV offers Fox in 18 major markets across the country. So, if you live near one of the cities listed here, you will be able to tune in. If not, check out the other options below.

Save with Sling

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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.

Save with Sling

$19.99+ / month

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Can you watch Ohio State vs. Texas 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 services, 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 signup 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.

What are all of the streamers you can use to watch the Ohio State vs. Texas?

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.

Ahead of the football season, Fox has launched a new streaming service called Fox One. The new streamer is the home to everything available on Fox’s linear channels, including the Fox and the Big Ten Network. That means that the Ohio State vs. Texas game will be available via the service. Fox One offers a seven-day free trial, and then costs $20 per month thereafter.

Watch a preview of Ohio State vs. Texas

How to watch Ohio State vs. Texas from anywhere

If you’ll be away from home and can’t watch Ohio State vs. Texas 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 service like Sling TV in order to stream the tournament with a VPN.

SurfShark is one of the best providers around at one of the best prices. Currently, you can get SurfShark’s protection for as little as $2.19 per month. All plans include a secure VPN, ad blocker, and cookie pop-up blocker, so you will be covered from every angle. And since SurfShark’s protection is available on unlimited devices, you won’t have to pick and choose which ones to prioritize. Simply sign up, install the software on your device of choice, and start streaming just as you would back home. It couldn’t be easier!

While SurfShark is our recommendation for the best value VPN to use while you are traveling, there are a number of other high-quality options available depending on what you are looking for.

• Best Budget Option: NordVPN | Starting at $3.39 per month
• Best Features: ExpressVPN | Starting at $5 per month
• Best Free Option: Proton VPN | Free plan available