Getty Jalen Milroe of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates a Week 1 TD.
The No. 11 Texas Longhorns and the No. 3 three ranked Alabama Crimson Tide will clash on Saturday, September 9 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
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The game will be televised on ESPN, but if you don’t have cable or don’t have that channel, you can watch a live stream for free on FuboTV or DirecTV Stream.
Here’s how:
FuboTV
You can watch a live stream of ESPN and 100-plus other live TV channels on FuboTV, which comes with a free seven-day trial:
Once signed up for FuboTV, you can watch Texas vs Alabama live on the FuboTV app or FuboTV website.
Compatible devices for the FuboTV app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or Series X/S, Samsung TV, LG TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch live on the ESPN app or ESPN.com. You’ll need to sign in to a cable provider to watch this way, but you can use your Fubo credentials to do that.
DirecTV Stream
DirecTV Stream has four different channel packages: “Entertainment,” “Choice,” “Ultimate” and “Premier.” ESPN is included in all of them, and you can pick any package and any add-on you want with your free five-day trial:
Once signed up for DirecTV Stream, you can watch Texas vs Alabama live on the DirecTV Stream app or DirecTV Stream website.
Compatible devices for the DirecTV Stream app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Samsung TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch live on the ESPN app or ESPN.com. You’ll need to sign in to a cable provider to watch this way, but you can use your DirecTV Stream credentials to do that.
Sling TV
If you’ve used up all your free trials for other streaming services, Sling TV is the cheapest long-term streaming service that includes this game. ESPN is included in the “Sling Orange” bundle, which is just $20 for your first month:
Once signed up for Sling TV, you can watch Texas vs Alabama live on the Sling TV app or Sling TV website.
Compatible devices for the Sling TV app include Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or Series X/S, Samsung TV, LG TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), airTV Mini, Oculus, Portal, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch live on the ESPN app or ESPN.com. You’ll need to sign in to a cable provider to watch this way, but you can use your Sling credentials to do that.
Texas vs Alabama Preview
The Crimson Tide are coming off a 56-7 walloping of Middle Tennessee on September 2. Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe completed 13-of-18 passes for 194 yards and three touchdowns in the win, also leading the team in rushing with 48 yards and two TDs. Bama netted 431 total yards of offense, while allowing 211 total yards on the defensive side.
Now, the Tide will face a far more stiff challenge in the Longhorns, who are led by former Alabama assistant coach Steve Sarkisian, who now serves as head coach at Texas.
“Yeah, is it an advantage to the other guy that he knows what we do? But we also know what they do, so I don’t know how you put that on a scale and say that it’s more advantageous to one person than the other,” Alabama coach and former mentor of Sark Nick Saban said about playing against his former protégé adding:
“We always try to focus on what we gotta do with our players to try and get them to play good and not really worry too much about the other guys. But there could be some terminology things that if you don’t change it up, they might be able to take advantage and I think we’re aware of those things, trying to make sure that we don’t give them any advantages, but I think it kind of goes both ways.”
On the other side, Texas is fresh from a convincing 37-10 win over Rice on September 2. Longhorns signal-caller Quinn Ewers completed 19-of-30 passes for 260 yards and three scores, also adding a score on the ground.
Defensively, Texas was incredibly stout, allowing just 176 total yards and 3.5 yards per play. The Longhorns ‘D’ will be tested in a big way in this one, however.
“They do a tremendous job at Alabama with their game day, the electricity in the stadium, but the key to the drill is focus on what we need to do,” Sarkisian said about the Crimson Tide. “We can’t get caught up thinking we’re going to play all 17 teams that coach Saban has had the last 17 years, and the players and the coaches on them. We’re playing the 2023 Alabama football team, which is very good, and they’re every well-coached. It’s gonna be a great environment for college football. All that being said, we need to focus on what we need to do.”
These two teams met last season, with the Tide winning 20-19 in Austin. The Longhorns hold the edge in the all-time series against the Crimson Tide, 7-2-1.