Notre Dame vs. Penn State, How to watch online, free

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The Capital One Cotton Bowl 2025 is here with two teams competing to advance in the Playoff (CFP) National Championship game later in January.

In the Orange Bowl/CFP semifinals, two NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision powerhouses go head-to-head as the No. 5-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-1) will face the no. 4-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions (13-2) at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on Thursday, January 9. The match starts at 19:30. ET/4:30 PM PT on ESPN.

Since the Orange Bowl airs on ESPN, the game is also available to watch online with web-based cable alternatives, like DirecTV Stream – which offers a 5-day free trial and starts at $86.98/month for new subscribers. Once the free trial is over, you can either cancel the service or continue to watch all the hard-hitting action of CFP.

Aside from DirecTV Stream, ESPN can be streamed on Hulu + Live TV for free. Sign up for the 3-day free trial to try the service before committing to month-to-month starting at $82.99/month. In addition, ESPN is available with a subscription at Fubo and Sling Orange.

Tickets for the game are still available at TicketNetwork, VividSeats.com and SeatGeek. In fact, you can save $150 off when you spend $500 with a promo code VARIETY 150or $300 off when you spend $1,000 with promo code VARIETY300 at TicketNetwork.com.

In addition, you can use code VAR2024 to take $20 off your ticket purchase at VividSeats.com or you can use a promo code VARIETY10 to save $10 at SeatGeek.com.

With kickoff at 7:30 PM ET/4:30 PM PT, Orange Bowl broadcast: Notre Dame vs. Penn State on ESPN via DirecTV Stream.