Oh, the subscriptions you’ll need.
The 2025 college football season is nearly upon us, with BYU, Utah and Utah State all kicking things off Saturday, Aug. 30. The Cougars and Aggies open at home against Portland State and UTEP, respectively, while the Utes go on the road to UCLA.
In total — before any postseason action, which includes conference championship games — BYU, Utah and Utah State will combine to play 35 games this fall. That is about 119 hours of football, based on the average length (nearly three and a half hours) of a college football game.
It is impossible that any one person could attend all 35 games, which means fans of college football in the state will inevitably have to turn to television and streaming to catch all the action.
Here’s how to do it.
Subscriptions needed to watch BYU football
Right now we know how to watch four of BYU’s 12 games in 2025.
The season opener against Portland State; the home game against Stanford the following week on Sep. 6; a Sep. 27 road game at Colorado and a game at home against West Virginia on Oct. 3.
Each of those four games will be televised on either ESPN (Stanford, Colorado and West Virginia) or streamed on ESPN+ (Portland State).
Due to television rights, most of BYU’s games should be televised by ESPN, either on its more traditional linear channels (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews) or streamed on ESPN+, which requires a separate subscription.
Big 12 football games are also being carried by Fox this season, though, and a few are being sub-licensed to TNT, CBS and NBC this year, too.
Which means fans will either need access to the linear channels of Fox, CBS, TNT and NBC or will need a subscription to HBO Max (for TNT games), Fox One (for Fox and Fox Sports games), Paramount+ (for CBS and CBS Sports games) and Peacock (for NBC games).
Additionally, some of the Cougars games will be broadcast on BYUtv.
Subscriptions needed to watch Utah football
Watching the Utes early in the year will require multiple subscriptions.
The season opener against UCLA will be televised on Fox (Fox One for streaming), while Week 2 Utah will play Cal Poly, a game that will be streamed on ESPN+.
Week 3, Utah plays at Wyoming, a game that will be televised on CBS Sports Network (or Paramount+ or CBSSports.com).
As a member of the Big 12, Utah could also have games broadcast on TNT or NBC (streaming on HBO Max and Peacock, respectively), but as of Aug. 6 those haven’t been announced. Only the first three games of the season.
Like BYU, the majority of Utah’s games should end up on one of ESPN’s traditional linear channels (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews) or streamed on ESPN+, some of that coming down to how good the Utes are this season.
Subscriptions needed to watch Utah State football
Much is known about how to watch the Aggies this season, in their first year under new coach Bronco Mendenhall.
All but three of Utah State’s games have had the broadcasting information announced.
Five of the Aggies’ games will be televised on CBS Sports Network (streamed on Paramount+ or CBSSports.com).
Another game — at home against Boise State on Friday, Nov. 28 — will be televised on CBS.
Utah State’s Week 3 matchup with Air Force — the Aggies’ Mountain West Conference opener — will be televised on FS1 (streamed on Fox One or Watch FS1 Live).
Additionally, the Aggies will have two games broadcast on the SEC Network (which requires a subscription with a provider that carries the channel) — on Sep. 6 at Texas A&M and on Sep. 27 at Vanderbilt.
USU’s home game against McNeese State will be televised locally on KMYU, it was announced Thursday. It will also be streamed on the Mountain West Network.
Outside of traditional cable, who carries college football?
In many ways, traditional cable and/or satellite remain the easiest way to watch the majority of college football games any given fall, but there are now streaming services that do approximately the same thing, like:
- Hulu + Live TV
- YouTube TV
- FUBO
- Sling TV
In 2025, more subscriptions are needed than ever to catch college football. Across the country and in the state of Utah.