How To Watch The 2017 Houston College Classic

Baseball fans in the SEC, and at LSU in particular, have always been a bit spoiled when it comes to TV coverage. Unlike any other program in the sport of college baseball, LSU is approaching more than a decade’s worth of seasons in which the vast majority of games have been available to watch live in one form or another. From the early days of Jumbo Sports and the GeauxZone, to Cox Sports basically becoming the LSU baseball channel, to the modern age of the SEC Network and SECN+, Tiger fans have had it easy.

These days, thanks to the wide ranging behemoth of the ESPN partnership, it’s easier than it’s ever been. Only 7 of LSU’s baseball games this entire season are not on the widely available ESPN platform and all of them are out-of-conference road games. While the majority of them are scuffles against in-state schools, this weekend is much bigger than some mid-week game against the Greenies.

The Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park, besides being a mouthful of a title, is pitting 3 SEC teams vs 3 BXII teams, all of which are ranked in the Top 20 by one of the many major polls for college baseball. National reporters are saying this field is as good as or better than what we’ll get in Omaha this summer.

So naturally, you’re going to want to watch these games.

First off, let’s all thank whatever deity we believe in that the Astros’ home TV station, Root Sports Houston, is way too busy with meaningless Spring Training games in Florida to give even the barest hint of caring about the college games going on in it’s own park this weekend. While I think their broadcast team does a fine job covering the game, Root Sports Houston is still one of the most difficult stations on the planet to get access to, even here in their home territory of Louisiana.

Thankfully, Fox Sports and some of it’s regional affiliates have picked up these games and they’ll be widely available to folks in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Basically, you need access to Fox Sports 2, Fox Sports Southwest, and Fox Sports Southwest Plus. All 3 games each day will air on one of those stations in this geographic area. Thankfully LSU has broken out where each of LSU’s games will air and the mad TV schedule genius at LSUFootball.NET has broken down which Fox Sports regional stations around the country will carry the games

March 3 7:00 pm CT TCU vs LSU

San Antonio region, Houston, Southern Louisiana, Beaumont: FS2, FOX Sports Southwest DirecTV - 676, Dish - 416, U-verse - 1753

Dallas-Fort Worth region, Northern Louisiana: FOX Sports Southwest Plus, FSGo App

FSN Detroit+ (HD): DirecTV - 663-1, Dish - N/A, U-verse - 1756

FSN Oklahoma: DirecTV - 675 (HD), Dish - ???, U-verse - 1759

FSN Ohio+: DirecTV - 660-1 (HD), Dish - 425, U-verse - 1755

FSN Prime (HD): DirecTV - 693, Dish - 411, U-verse - 1774

FSN Southeast (HD): DirecTV - 649, Dish - 437, U-verse - 1729

FSN Southwest (HD): DirecTV - 676, Dish - 416, U-verse - 1753

FSN San Diego: DirecTV - 694, Dish - 5439, U-verse - 1776

MASN2 (HD): DirecTV - 640-1, Dish - 433, U-verse - N/A

Sunshine Network (HD): DirecTV - 653, Dish - 422, U-verse - 1722

March 4 3:30 pm CT Baylor vs LSU

San Antonio region: FOX Sports Southwest: DirecTV - 676, Dish - 416, U-verse - 1755

Louisiana: FOX Sports Southwest Plus, FSGo App

MASN2 (HD): DirecTV - 640-1, Dish - 433, U-verse - N/A

FSN Detroit+ (HD): DirecTV - 663-1, Dish - N/A, U-verse - 1737

FSN North (HD): DirecTV - 668, Dish - 436, U-verse - 1744

FSN San Diego: DirecTV - 694, Dish - 5439, U-verse - 1776

March 5 10:00 am CT LSU vs Texas Tech

FS2 (HD): DirecTV - 618, Dish - 149, U-verse - 1651

FSN North (HD): DirecTV - 668, Dish - 436, U-verse - 1756

FSN Southwest (HD): DirecTV - 676, Dish - N/A, U-verse - 1755

MASN2 (HD): DirecTV - 640-1, Dish - 433, U-verse - N/A

If you don’t have one of the dishes or U-Verse, you’ll want to make sure your cable package offers FS2, FSSW, and FSSW Plus. FSSW Plus is an overflow station, kind of like SEC Network Alternate, that carries programming when needed because of scheduling conflicts or overlapping NBA TV rights. If you’re a Pelicans fan, this is how you’ve watched some of your games when the Mavericks have a game at the same time. Most cable providers have FSSW+ as a separate channel on the dial, but some providers only give access to it through the Fox Sports Go app. Be sure to check which one you have before the game starts.

Don’t have one of theses channels? Fox Sports Southwest is on most basic tiers in this region, but FS2 can cost a pretty penny. Why not watch the games for free? If you’re in Louisiana, Sling TV offers FS2, FSSW, and FSSW+ to customers in this region. As part of my ongoing series about cord-cutting as a sports fan, I’ve recently been using Sling TV again and their service is pretty solid these days. Also, they still offer an unlimited 7 day free trial, so if you’re missing one of these stations, you can still watch all of LSU’s games this weekend for absolutely nothing.

(This is not an ad for Sling TV, though inevitably because I’ve mentioned them their ads are going to start showing up on the site. Sorry, I guess?)