How to watch the all the college bowls on New Year’s Day
- dec
- 31
It's all about college football on New Year's Day and you can watch your favorite bowl on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV!
If you're favorite pastime on January 1 is to plop down in front of the TV with a bunch of snacks and a couple of cold-cold ones, you're not alone. The NCAA celebrates the end of one year and beginning of a new one with a series of bowls, which culminates on New Year's Day with five big games. Whether you're here for the Outback Bowl, the Peach Bowl, the Citrus Bowl, the Rose Bowl or the Sugar Bowl, you've got a full day of pigskin throwing ahead of you. Here's the best way to watch the games you want on your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV.
Get the apps
Sorry cord cutters. These New Year's Day bowls are off-limits for you. That's because all but one of the college bowls are exclusive through ESPN. If you've got a cable subscription and have ESPN and ESPN2 in your package, you're good to go.
On iPhone and iPad, you'll need the WatchESPN app.
On Apple TV, you'll need ESPN: Live Sports & Scores.
For both apps, or to watch on your computer via ESPN.com, you'll need your cable subscription login credentials. If you're watching on iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV, you'll be asked to authenticate your subscription by entering a code that you access via a web browser, so make sure you've got a device that you can access the internet from, like your iPhone, iPad, or computer.
The Citrus Bowl is the only game on New Year's Day in 2018 that will not air on one of ESPN's channels. It will broadcast on ABC at 10:00 AM PT. You'll need the ABC app for iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV, or you can watch it on your computer at ABC.go.com. You'll need your cable login credentials to watch the Citrus Bowl from both apps or on your computer.
Or, you could just watch it over-the-air on ABC...
How to watch live broadcast TV on your Apple TV without a cable subscription
Plan your schedule
The first of the bowls starts at 9:00 AM PT and the last one starts at 5:45 PM PT, so you've got a full day ahead of you. Unfortunately, some of the games will overlap (for example, the Outback Bowl and Peach Bowl start a half-hour apart). Luckily, ESPN on Apple TV lets you watch multiple live channels at the same time (up to four on your screen at once).
Here's a list of the games and their start times. Note that the Citrus Bowl is the only game that is not aired on ESPN. For that game, you'll need to sign into ABC with your cable subscription.
Outback Bowl - Michigan Wolverines vs. South Carolina Gamecocks - 9:00 AM PT - ESPN 2
Peach Bowl - UCF Knights vs. Auburn Tigers - 9:30 AM PT - ESPN
Citrus Bowl - Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. LSU Tigers - 10:00 AM PT - ABC
Rose Bowl (NCAA playoffs) - Georgia Bulldogs vs. Oklahoma Sooners - 2:00 PM PT - ESPN
Sugar Bowl (NCAA playoffs) - Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Clemson Tigers - 5:45 PM PT - ESPN
What's your game day plan?
How are you planning to watch the various New Year's Day college bowls? Put your game plan in the comments!