Drake Bulldogs Football TV Schedule, Channels, Times
How to watch live stream Drake Bulldogs football game today, tonight, or tomorrow? What channel & time?
The Drake Bulldogs play in the Pioneer Football League, the FCS conference for non-scholarship football programs, and every game on their 2026 schedule streams on ESPN+. That covers all eight PFL contests plus the three non-conference games, since Montana and Northern Iowa both stream their home games on the same platform. There is no cable broadcast for Drake football, so ESPN+ is the way in. The Bulldogs come into 2026 as the defending Pioneer League champions after an 8-4 season that ended with an FCS playoff appearance, but they do it under a new head coach in first-year man Matt Walker. Drake also opens earlier than it has since 2019, with a Thursday night season opener at Drake Stadium in Des Moines on August 27.
| Drake Bulldogs TV Schedule 2026 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Game | Time ET | TV |
| Week 1 (Thu, Aug. 27) | vs South Dakota Mines | 7:30 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 2 (Sat, Sept. 5) | @ Montana | 3:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 3 (Sat, Sept. 12) | @ Northern Iowa | 2:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 4 (Sat, Sept. 19) | BYE WEEK | — | — |
| Week 5 (Sat, Sept. 26) | @ Davidson * | 1:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 6 (Sat, Oct. 3) | vs Dayton * | 1:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 7 (Sat, Oct. 10) | @ Valparaiso * | 2:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 8 (Sat, Oct. 17) | vs Marist * | 1:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 9 (Sat, Oct. 24) | vs Butler * | 1:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 10 (Sat, Oct. 31) | @ Morehead State * | TBD | ESPN+ |
| Week 11 (Sat, Nov. 7) | vs San Diego * | 1:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 12 (Sat, Nov. 14) | @ St. Thomas * | 2:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 13 (Sat, Nov. 21) | BYE WEEK | — | — |
* Pioneer Football League game. Home games are played at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.
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Which Drake Bulldogs games are worth watching in 2026?
The September 5 trip to Missoula is the marquee date and the hardest ask on the schedule. Montana routinely packs 25,000-plus into Washington-Grizzly Stadium, and the Griz hold a 1-0 edge in the series from Drake's last visit in 2018 — a non-scholarship program walking into that environment is about as stark a test as the FCS offers. A week later the Bulldogs stay on the road for an in-state meeting with Northern Iowa, giving Drake back-to-back games against fully funded scholarship opponents before Pioneer League play even begins. The season opener is worth a look too: a Thursday night lid-lifter against Division II South Dakota Mines, the earliest Drake has started a season in seven years.
Once conference play arrives, the schedule stacks the most consequential games at Drake Stadium. Dayton visits October 3 in the league home opener, and the Flyers have been the Bulldogs' most persistent obstacle in the PFL over the past decade. The only back-to-back home stretch of the year follows on October 17 and 24 against Marist and Butler, two programs that have finished near the top of the standings recently and that Drake will likely need to beat to defend its title. San Diego comes to Des Moines on November 7, and the regular season wraps November 14 at St. Thomas, the fast-rising Minnesota program that has become one of the league's toughest road trips. Drake then sits idle on November 21, waiting on the playoff picture.
