The road to the College Football Playoff National Championship continues tonight with the first of two semifinal matchups. It’s time for the 2026 Fiesta Bowl, between No. 10 Miami and No. 6 Ole Miss.
The Hurricanes, now just two wins away from their first college football title since 2001, are fresh off a New Year’s Eve Cotton Bowl victory where they eliminated the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes in the biggest upset in CFP history.
Ole Miss is close to ending an even longer title drought; the Rebels’ last NCAA-acknowledged national title came in 1960. Going into last week’s Sugar Bowl, the Rebels were 6.5-point underdogs, but defeated the Georgia Bulldogs 39-34 thanks to a 27-point second half and a game-winning field goal with six seconds left on the clock.
2026 Fiesta Bowl: what to know
- Who: No. 10 Miami Hurricanes vs. No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels
- When: Jan. 8, 7:30 p.m. ET
- Where: State Farm Stadium (Glendale, Arizona)
- Channel: ESPN
- Streaming: DIRECTV (try it free)
Here’s how to tune in to the 2025 Fiesta Bowl for free if you don’t have cable.
Miami vs. Ole Miss Fiesta Bowl start time:
Miami vs. Ole Miss is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET tonight, Jan. 8.
How to watch the Fiesta Bowl for free:
If you don’t have cable, you’ll need a live TV streaming service to stream the Miami vs. Ole Miss CFP semifinal for free.
DIRECTV is our top pick for watching college football live for free — its five-day free trial includes ESPN (the only channel you’ll need for the College Football Playoff). When the trial is over, you’ll pay as low as $49.99/month and gain access to over 90 live channels.
If you aren’t ready to commit to a full-on subscription, you can try a Sling Orange Day Pass. Priced at $4.99, you’ll get 24 hours of access to all Sling TV Orange has to offer, including ESPN. Sling also offers weekend and week-long passes for its Orange plan, which offer between three and seven days of access.
College Football Playoff 2025-26 key dates
- Semifinals (Jan. 8-9)
- Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 8, 7:30 p.m.) – Ole Miss vs. Miami
- Peach Bowl (Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m.) – Oregon vs. Indiana
- National Championship (Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m.)
Why Trust Post Wanted by the New York Post
This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Streaming Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping, Page Six, and Decider.com. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she’s also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. When she’s not writing about TV, movies, and sports, she’s also keeping up on all of the best deals to shop at Bath & Body Works, and testing headphones. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
