Watch Ohio State and Oregon face off in the Rose Bowl
Watch Ohio State and Oregon face off in the Rose Bowl
Arguably the two most complete teams in college football will square off in Pasadena for a shot at the playoff semifinals.
In the shadow of the picture-perfect San Gabriel Mountains, arguably the two best teams in college football will square off in the Grandaddy of Them All. The Ohio State Buckeyes enter the 2025 Rose Bowl favored by 2.5 points over the Oregon Ducks despite the fact that Oregon is the undefeated No. 1 team in the country and already beat the Buckeyes once this season. This game will pit the two most complete teams in the country against each other for a chance to advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals. The game kicks off at 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Jan. 1 on ESPN. You can watch this matchup and every College Football Playoff game with a subscription to Sling TV.
How to watch the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal
- When: Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025 at 5 p.m. ET
- TV: ESPN
- Stream: Watch with 50% off a subscription to Sling TV.
- From anywhere: Watch with a subscription to a VPN.
Everything you need to know to stream Ohio State vs. Oregon in the Rose Bowl:
Watch a preview of Ohio State vs. Oregon
Why we chose Sling TV to watch Ohio State vs. Oregon in the Rose Bowl
Over the next month and a half, there will be tons of college football and NFL postseason games coming to you and sports fans will not want to miss a single second of the action. If you fall into that category, then Sling is the way to go for you. It is the cheapest way to get national broadcast channels and the biggest cable networks as well, which will be especially important as the College Football Playoff will air a significant portion of its games on cable.
Normally, Sling costs $46 per month, but you can currently get 50% off your first month of service, meaning that you can watch a month of the college postseason and the stretch run of the NFL for as little as $23. Sling has two different base packages, Orange and Blue. You can subscribe to one or both. If you do opt to combine Orange and Blue it will run you $61 monthly — still substantially cheaper than the comparable live TV streaming services — but with the first-month deal, you can stream everything on both packages for just $30.50.
The College Football Playoff will air all remaining games on ESPN, so that means that there is no cheaper option to watch all of the CFP action over the next few weeks.
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.
Related: Best choice for watching College Football Playoff? It’s Sling TV
Can you watch Ohio State vs. Oregon 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 STREAM, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, and YouTube TV all offer free trials, but they vary in length, so be wary. DIRECTV STREAM’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 STREAM, because that streamer has the longest guaranteed free trial.
Ohio State vs. Oregon game breakdown
While this game takes place in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, many college football observers are looking at it as if the game is a de facto national championship bout. These two Big Ten teams are set to face off in Pasadena after they met in mid-October in Eugene. In that regular season matchup, Oregon won 32-31, propelling them to an undefeated season and the top seed in the playoff.
While the Ducks haven’t played since Dec. 6, the Buckeyes opened up the playoffs by beating the Tennessee Volunteers 42-17 in the first round, shedding some of the demons of head coach Ryan Day’s conservative game plan against the Michigan Wolverines. If the Buckeyes are as aggressive against Oregon as they were against the Vols, this Rose Bowl matchup should be explosive.
The Buckeyes enter the game with the best defense in college football, allowing only 11.4 points and 242.2
yards per game. OSU was especially dominant against the pass, giving up just 141.2 yards through the air this season. The Ohio State defense has not allowed a passing touchdown in its past seven games, dating back to the last game against Oregon.
It will undoubtedly be a strength-vs.-strength matchup in Pasadena as the Ducks are led by Heisman Trophy finalist Dillon Gabriel at quarterback. He is averaging 273.7 yards passing per game and is completing 73.2% of his throws — the same percentage that Buckeye QB Will Howard boasts. In the last meeting between the teams, Gabriel was 23-of-34 for 341 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with wide receiver Evan Stewart for 149 yards.
If Ohio State wants to avenge the regular season loss, it will need to keep up its late-season defensive resurgence and pressure Gabriel as often as possible.
What are all of the streamers you can use to watch Ohio State vs. Oregon?
Fortunately for college football fans, there are six different streaming services that will stream the Ohio State vs. Oregon playoff game, so you have options to choose from if you don’t already subscribe to any of them. We discussed Sling TV and the four free trial options above, but there is one more, and it offers a different type of streaming arrangement.
If you are looking to find a long-term streaming service and want to avoid the potential of having to pay more if price hikes strike, then DIRECTV via Internet is your best bet. Packages start as low as $70 per month and come with a two-year price guarantee. This, of course, locks you into a two-year contract, but with prices increasing fairly regularly, it is understandable why this would be an attractive offer to many people.
Ultimately, there are tons of different ways to stream the game, and while we recommend Sling TV as the best way to stream all of the college and pro football postseason, you have plenty of options to find the platform that meets your needs.
| DTV STREAM | Fubo | Hulu | Philo | Sling TV | YouTube | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Free Trial | Free 3-Day Trial | Free Trial | Get 50% OFF | Sign Up | |||
| $86.99 | $94.99 | $82.99 | $28 | $45.99 | $45.99 | $82.99 | ||
| ESPN | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | |
How to watch Ohio State vs. Oregon from anywhere
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 Tennessee vs. Ohio State game with a VPN.
NordVPN is one of the best providers around, at one of the best prices. Currently, you can get two full years of protection for just $3.59 per month — plus you’ll get three extra months FREE. A high-speed VPN with best-in-class security that can be used on up to 10 devices at once — what more could you ask for? 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 NordVPN 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.
- Best Features: ExpressVPN | Starting at $5 per month
- Best Budget Option: Surfshark | Starting at $2.50 per month
- Best Free Option: Proton VPN | Free plan available