In past years at this point in the college football calendar, there were four teams left with championship hopes. That's all changed this year with the new 12-team playoff that has expanded title hopes to a dozen schools. The top four seeds have earned a first-round bye, but the other eight teams will begin the College Football Playoff this weekend.

Unlike bowl games played at neutral sites, the first-round games will be played at the home stadium of the higher seed. No. 7 Notre Dame hosts No. 10 Indiana under the lights at Notre Dame Stadium on Friday night to start things off. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) tonight on ABC and ESPN.

The other three first-round games will be played on Saturday, with No. 6 Penn State hosting No. 11 SMU at 12 p.m. ET (9 a.m. PT), followed by No. 5 Texas hosting No. 12 Clemson at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT). The final first-round game will take place at Ohio Stadium starting at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT), with No. 8 Ohio State going up against No. 9 Tennessee.

Most games of the playoff will be on ESPN, but you'll also need TNT or Max for two first-round games -- because nothing is easy when it comes to live streaming sports. If you don't have a cable or satellite TV subscription, you can watch every game of the CFP with a live TV streaming service. Keep reading to see the first-round matchups, full playoff schedule and the best ways to watch the games over the next month.

The 12-team CFP will feature 11 games over the next month, starting Friday night and ending with the national championship game on Monday, Jan. 20. Here's the full schedule (all times ET):

Nine of the 11 playoff games will be on ESPN, with two first-round games on TNT and Max. All five of the major live TV streaming services carry ESPN, and four of the five include both ESPN and TNT (all but Fubo).

All of the live TV streaming services above allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live TV streaming services guide.