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Two teams that entered the season with playoff expectations will instead take part in The Granddaddy of Them All, as No. 9 Washington and No. 6 Ohio State meet in the 2019 Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.
The game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. ET and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. If you don’t have cable, you can still watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone, video game console, smart TV or streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
In addition to a Netflix-like on-demand streaming library, Hulu also offers a bundle of 50-plus live TV channels, including ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Echo Show or other streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch live, “Hulu with Live TV” also comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).
ESPN and ESPN2 are both included in the “Sling Orange” channel bundle. You can sign up for a free seven-day trial right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or other streaming device via the Sling TV app.
If you can’t watch live, you can get 50 hours of cloud DVR storage as an additional add-on.
ESPN Platforms
Additionally, you can watch a live stream of the game on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone, tablet, or streaming device via the ESPN app. You’ll need to log in to a cable provider to watch this way, but if you don’t have that, you can still sign up for one of the above options and then use your Hulu or Sling TV credentials to sign in and watch on the ESPN digital platforms.
Washington vs Ohio State Preview
It’s hard to call the Rose Bowl–one of college football’s most storied traditions–a disappointment or anything even resembling as such, but Washington and Ohio State both began the season with loftier goals.
In the AP preseason poll, the Buckeyes were fifth and the Huskies sixth. Among the 43 playoff predictions from ESPN personalities at the start of the year, 11 had OSU in the Final Four and 22 had UW.
But Ohio State’s playoff aspirations were derailed by a 29-point drubbing at Purdue in October, though a pair of blowouts against then-No. 4 Michigan and Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship to close the year had them feeling like they still deserved to be in. Washington, meanwhile, suffered three losses on the road (Auburn was technically a neutral site but took place in Atlanta and was heavily pro-Tigers) by a combined 10 points, which is hardly egregious but certainly enough to keep them out of the Top 4.
“It has been rocky. It has been tough. It has been hard. And that’s why I have a lot of respect for these kids,” Washington head coach Chris Petersen said. “They’ve been through a lot. There was a lot of expectations put on them.
“At times, we’ve played really well, and, at times, we haven’t played as well as we think we can.”
Washington’s inconsistency has come on the offensive side of the ball, where they average just 394.1 yards (69th in the country) and 25.1 points per game (87th). The running game behind Myles Gaskin, who is the first player in Pac-12 history to tally four 1,000-yard rushing seasons, and dynamo change-of-pace back Salvon Ahmed is dangerous, but Jake Browning and the passing game has struggled to give the team necessary balance.
On the other side of the field, though, the Huskies boast one of the nation’s best defenses.
With Greg Gaines clogging running lanes on the interior, Ben Burr-Kirven covering sideline-to-sideline as the nation’s leading tackler, and an elite secondary, the Dawgs’ defense rank sixth in America in points per game, 10th in yards per game and 15th in yards per play.
That defense already shut down one Heisman candidate in Gardner Minshew, and now they’ll have to do it again.
Dwayne Haskins Jr. enjoyed the best season by a passer in Ohio State history, completing 70.2 percent of his passes for a silly 4,580 yards, 47 touchdowns and just eight interceptions. In the two biggest games of the year against Michigan and Northwestern, he combined for 895 yards on 12.43 yards per attempt with 11 touchdowns and one interception.
Haskins has yet to decide on his NFL future but could very well be a Top-10 pick if he declares. Washington’s secondary, despite playing behind a mostly non-existent pass rush, has held opponents to 6.0 yards per pass, the 13th-best mark in the country. This is easily one of the best matchups of the entire bowl season and will go a long way in deciding who wins the 105th Rose Bowl.
And just because this isn’t the game either were hoping for when the season began, don’t assume there isn’t anything on the line.
For Washington, a victory would give them their first Rose Bowl win since 2000 and potentially the second Top-5 finish in three years, further entrenching them as one of the nation’s best programs under Petersen. For Ohio State, it would mark their first Rose Bowl victory since 2009 and would also send Urban Meyer out on a high note.
The Buckeyes are favored by seven.