BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Southwestern Athletic Conference released its 2018 football television schedule on Thursday which includes 27 contests that will spread across 10 different networks.
All 10 of the member institutions will be featured on either the ESPN family of networks, ABC, Fox Sports Network, SEC Network, Mountain West Network, AT&T Sports Net, Pluto TV, AggieVision or the NBC Sports Network. All games are available in standard high-definition.
Prairie View A&M will represent the SWAC on Sunday, September 2 in the 14th annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge when the Panthers take on North Carolina Central at Georgia State Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. Kickoff will air live at 11 a.m. CT and it will be broadcast on ESPN2.
The rematch of the 2017 SWAC Football Championship game between Grambling State and Alcorn State is set for Saturday, October 20 from Lorman, Miss. for a 2 p.m. kick on ESPN3. The Tigers fended off a late rally attempt to defeat the Braves 40-32 in last season’s finale from Houston’s NRG Stadium. After Grambling State took a 38-10 into halftime, Alcorn State outscored Grambling 22-2 in the fourth quarter to narrow the deficit to a one-possession game.
The 77th Magic City Classic between Alabama A&M and Alabama State will take place in Birmingham, Ala. on Saturday, October 27 on ESPN3 for a 2:30 p.m. kick. The game will be tape delayed for a broadcast on ESPNU as well. Alabama State held off Alabama A&M 21-16 in last year’s edition of the game. There were 61,221 fans in attendance for last year’s Classic at historic Old Gray Lady.
SWAC Western Division rivals clash when Grambling State and Southern square off in New Orleans, La. for the Bayou Classic on the NBC Sports Network at 4 p.m. on Saturday, November 24. The teams finished No. 1 and No. 2 in the SWAC West Division standings a year ago with the division title being decided in this game last season.
The postseason gets kickstarted with the relocation of the Toyota SWAC Football Championship as it returns to Birmingham, Ala. at historic Legion Field on Saturday, December 1. The SWAC Championship game staged the inaugural title game in the Magic City in 1999 and held it there until 2012 before relocating to Houston for five seasons. The game will pit the traditional East and West Division Champions against one another. In 19 years of the game, nine of the 10 conference schools have earned a berth to play for the title.
Kickoff time is set for 3:30 p.m. and will be available to also watch on ESPNU.
The TV line up concludes with the Celebration Bowl on Saturday, December 15, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. The multi-purpose retractable roof stadium serves as the home of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) and Atlanta United FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). The state-of-the-art stadium opened last season and is scheduled to serve as the hosts of Super Bowl LIII in 2019.
Kickoff for the Celebration Bowl is set for 11:00 a.m. CT on ABC.
2018 SWAC football telecast schedule
Courtesy: SWAC