South Florida vs. San Jose State: How to Watch Hawaii Bowl 2024 FREE, Time, Channels

Want to watch some football before the main course of NFL games on Christmas Day?

Well, don’t say anything more. There is a game scheduled for Christmas Eve that pits the San Jose State Spartans against the South Florida Bulls in the Hawaii Bowl.

Kickoff is at 8:00 p.m. ET and you can watch it on ESPN and ESPN Deportes and live stream (sign up as your early Christmas gift) on ESPN+, fubo TV (FREE trial), Sling TV (discount) and DirecTV Stream (FREE) available trial and discount).

The game will be played at the Clarence TC Ching Athletics Complex (15.194/AstroTurf) in Honolulu.

The Spartans are 3-point favorites, according to SportsLine, in a game with an over-under of 63.5 – the second-highest value on the college football odds board currently for bowl season – that promises to be a lot of action.

South Florida is making its first appearance in the Hawaii Bowl, while San Jose State is making its second appearance in the game. These two teams have played before, starting with the 2017 season when South Florida won by a score of 42-22.

The Bulls (6-4, 4-4 in the American Athletic Conference) are making their 12th bowl appearance under second-year head coach Alex Golesh. The game in Honolulu will be the farthest destination from Tampa for a South Florida football game in program history.

QB Bryce Archie has started the last seven games and thrown for 1,679 yards and nine touchdowns with nine interceptions. Archie took over as the starter after Byrum Brown was injured in the second half against Tulane on Sept. 28 and has not returned to action since. RB Kelley Joiner Jr. has 766 rushing yards with 11 touchdowns and running back RB Nay’Quan Wright has 494 yards with seven touchdowns.

WR Sean Atkins has 68 receptions for 677 yards and two touchdowns and enters with a school-record 189 career receptions. WR Michael Brown-Stephens is the team leader with four touchdown receptions.

The defense is led by defensive end Decarius Hawthorne, who earned second-team all-conference honors after having 9.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in the regular season. Linebacker Mac Harris has a team-high 74 tackles with 4.0 sacks and 10.0 tackles for loss remaining, plus two forced fumbles.

While kicker John Cannon went 9 of 13 on field goal attempts, Nico Gramatica is the long-distance specialist with three field goals of at least 50 yards.

• WHAT: Hawaii Bowl
• WHERE: Clarence TC Ching Athletics Complex
• WHEN: San Jose State Spartans vs. South Florida Bulls
• TIME: Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET
• TV: ESPN, ESPN Sports
• LIVE STREAM: ESPN+, fubo TV (FREE trial), Sling TV (discount), and DirecTV Stream (FREE trial and discount)

First-year coach Ken Niumatalolo (Hawaii 1989) brings with him a Spartans team that went 7-5 (3-4 in the Mountain West). This is their 14th bowl appearance (7-6 to date).

Niumatalolo, who notably led the triple-option offense at Navy, comes into the Hawaii Bowl averaging 325.3 passing yards with the fifth-best passing offense in the country at San Jose State. QB Walker Eget finished the regular season with 385 yards and four touchdowns in the win over Stanford and has rushed for 2,224 yards and 11 touchdowns. Emmett Brown, a transfer from Washington State, has completed 125 of 217 passes for 1,621 yards with 16 touchdowns against five interceptions.

RB Floyd Chalk is the leading rusher with 661 yards and nine touchdowns on 139 carries. WR Justin Lockhart, a first-team All-Mountain West selection, is the primary receiver. During the season he had 52 receptions for 973 yards and five touchdowns. WR Nick Nash, a unanimous NCAA Consensus All-America selection who led all FBS players in receptions (104), receiving yards (1,382) and touchdown receptions (16), has opted out of the game to concentrate on the NFL Prepare draft.

Defensive leaders include linebacker Jordan Pollard, who has 110 tackles and 12.0 tackles for a loss this season, defensive end Soane (team-best 4.5 sacks) and cornerback DJ Harvey (four interceptions).