How to Watch San Jose State vs. No. 14 USC Week 0 2026
The only ranked team in Week 0 — No. 14 USC Trojans — will look to avoid the Odyssean upset against the San Jose State Spartans.
The highest-ranked team in action during Week 0 will take the field on Saturday, Aug. 29, as the No. 14 USC Trojans host the San Jose State Spartans at the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Expectations are once again high for Lincoln Riley and USC, as quarterback Jayden Maiava returns to lead a talented Trojans roster looking to become the fourth straight Big Ten team to win the College Football Playoff National Championship. San Jose State, meanwhile, is trying to bounce back from a 3-9 campaign. The Spartans have never beaten USC in six previous meetings, and pulling off the upset against the heavily favored Trojans would be a monumental way to begin their season. San Jose State and USC will kick off at 3 p.m. ET in a game airing on NBC. 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 five-day free trial to DIRECTV. You can also watch with one of Peacock’s two Premium subscription options.
How to watch USC Trojans vs. San Jose State Spartans
- When: Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026 at 3 p.m. ET
- TV: NBC
- Stream: Watch with a five-day free trial to DIRECTV. and Peacock.
- From anywhere: Watch with a subscription to a VPN.
Everything you need to know to stream USC vs. San Jose State
Why we recommend DIRECTV to watch USC vs. San Jose State
When it comes to offering the most channels in streaming, every live TV streaming service is chasing DIRECTV. The platform offers the most of The Streamable’s top 35 cable channels, so if you are looking for a breadth of programming options, DIRECTV is a surefire hit. In addition, the streamer has the industry’s best guaranteed free trial. While others can roll out longer options depending on what time of year it is and what qualifications you meet as a customer, DIRECTV offers a five-day trial to all new users. So, if you are specifically looking to watch the USC vs. San Jose State game, this is the option that makes the most sense.
Related: How to watch the 2026-27 college football season
But DIRECTV is able to offer an even more compelling package of channels for football fans. Earlier this year, DIRECTV launched its Genre Packs that allow people to pick curated channel lineups around central themes and genres, and for sports fans, that means the MySports Pack.
The MySports plan runs $65 a month after the aforementioned five-day free trial, which gives you a way to check out everything that it has to offer before having to pay a penny. However, currently, you can also save an additional $15 off your first month, so you will only pay $50 for the first 30 days of the season.
You’ll also get a bunch of great sports channels with MySports, including ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, FS1, FS2, Golf Channel, MLB Network, NBA TV, NFL Network, NHL Network, SEC Network, TBS, TNT, and USA Network, and depending on your market, ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC.
These channels bring you an incredible selection of games from across pro and college sports, oh, and MySports also comes with a free ESPN Unlimited subscription. Pretty solid. All these channels and features are available for just $65, which is why it’s our favorite way to watch.
Can you watch USC vs. San Jose State 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. We already mentioned DIRECTV’s industry-leading guaranteed option, but Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, and YouTube TV all offer free trials as well, but they vary in length, so be wary. DIRECTV’s 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 TCU vs. North Carolina?
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, the worldwide leader in sports launched a first-of-its-kind streaming service. The standalone ESPN Unlimited direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service is the home to everything available on ESPN’s linear channels — including the TCU vs. North Carolina game — as well as everything that was previously found on ESPN+. The Unlimited tier of the service runs $30 per month, but is available in various bundles to make it even more affordable.
| 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 | ||
| NBC | + $19 | + $11 | + $61 | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | ✓ | |
Watch a preview of USC vs. San Jose State
How to watch USC vs. San Jose State 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 DIRECTV 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
Live TV Streaming Find out more >
Service Matchmaker
Our Matchmaker lets you compare multiple channels across all live TV streaming services. Just tell us what you watch and we’ll handle the rest.
