Alabama A&M will have to make it to the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game if it wants to be on any of the ESPN family of networks this season.

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The SWAC announced its ESPN network lineup of football games Monday and the Bulldogs didn’t fare well.

Five SWAC games will be televised on the ESPN family of networks, including the SWAC championship game on Dec. 8 at Birmingham’s Legion Field, but A&M wasn’t among the participants.

The Bulldogs were on ESPNU twice last season, beating Texas Southern 24-21 on Thursday, Oct. 13 at Louis Crews Stadium, before losing to Grambling 16-15 in the SWAC championship game on Dec. 10.

Bryan Hicks, A&M’s new athletics director, was disappointed that the Bulldogs weren’t a part of television schedule, but vowed school officials would try to change that.

“This is my first year in the league,” said Hicks, who is in his second week on the job. “I’m not familiar with the guidelines for selection for the television broadcast, but we want to let our fans know we will be working diligently to secure television contests for Alabama A&M in the future because we believe the Bulldogs have the best brand of football as any team in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).”

The season opens with the MEAC/SWAC challenge, which pits Alabama State versus Bethune-Cookman at Orlando’s Citrus Bowl Stadium on Sept. 2 on ESPN. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m.

A pair of Thursday night games on ESPNU highlight the regular season.

Southern will host Mississippi Valley State on Sept. 13 at 6:30 p.m., while Alabama State will host Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sept. 20 at 6:30 p.m.

The final regular season game will be the Turkey Day Classic which pits Alabama State against Tuskegee on Thanksgiving Day. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. on ESPNU and will serve as the grand opening of ASU Stadium.

The last game will be the 14th annual SWAC championship game on ESPNU on Saturday, Dec. 8 from Birmingham’s Legion Field.

By Reggie Benson, The Huntsville Times
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/06/alabama_am_bulldogs_not_on_the.html