Alabama State Hornets Football TV Schedule, Channels, Times
How to watch live stream Alabama State Hornets football game today, tonight, or tomorrow? What channel & time?
The Alabama State Hornets compete in the SWAC, and their 2026 broadcast picture leans heavily on HBCU GO, which carries seven games including the Labor Day Classic and the Turkey Day Classic. The season opener against Southern in the Birmingham Football Classic airs nationally on ESPNU, the road trip to Troy streams on ESPN+, and three more games — the Magic City Classic, Jackson State and Prairie View A&M — are assigned to the ESPN family of networks with the specific channel still to be named. Radio and supplementary video run through the Hornet Sports Network. Alabama State is coming off a 10-2 season and a SWAC East title, and the 2026 calendar runs a full 14 weeks, finishing on Thanksgiving Day.
| Alabama State Hornets TV Schedule 2026 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Game | Time ET | TV |
| Week 1 (Sat, Aug. 29) | vs Southern * (Birmingham Football Classic) | 3:00 PM | ESPNU |
| Week 2 (Sat, Sept. 5) | vs Lane College (Labor Day Classic) | 6:00 PM | HBCU GO |
| Week 3 (Sat, Sept. 12) | @ Troy | 4:00 PM | ESPN+ |
| Week 4 (Sat, Sept. 19) | BYE WEEK | — | — |
| Week 5 (Sat, Sept. 26) | vs Mississippi Valley State * | 6:00 PM | HBCU GO |
| Week 6 (Sat, Oct. 3) | @ Bethune-Cookman * | 4:00 PM | HBCU GO |
| Week 7 (Sat, Oct. 10) | vs Florida A&M * (Homecoming) | 4:00 PM | HBCU GO |
| Week 8 (Sat, Oct. 17) | @ Arkansas-Pine Bluff * | 3:00 PM | HBCU GO |
| Week 9 (Sat, Oct. 24) | BYE WEEK | — | — |
| Week 10 (Sat, Oct. 31) | vs Alabama A&M * (Magic City Classic) | 3:30 PM | ESPN Family of Networks |
| Week 11 (Sat, Nov. 7) | @ Texas Southern * | 3:00 PM | HBCU GO |
| Week 12 (Sat, Nov. 14) | vs Jackson State * (Hall of Fame Weekend) | 3:00 PM | ESPN Family of Networks |
| Week 13 (Sat, Nov. 21) | vs Prairie View A&M * (Connection Day) | 3:00 PM | ESPN Family of Networks |
| Week 14 (Thu, Nov. 26) | vs Tuskegee (Turkey Day Classic) | 3:00 PM | HBCU GO |
* SWAC game. Home games are played at ASU Stadium in Montgomery, Alabama.
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Which Alabama State Hornets games are worth watching in 2026?
Two Birmingham dates and one Thanksgiving tradition carry the season. The Magic City Classic against Alabama A&M on October 31 fills Legion Field and is routinely the best-attended game in HBCU football, drawing crowds north of 60,000 with a bye week in front of it to let both sides prepare. The season also opens in Birmingham, with Southern in the Birmingham Football Classic on ESPNU — the only game on the calendar with a confirmed national channel. Then there is the Turkey Day Classic against Tuskegee on Thanksgiving Day itself, a Montgomery institution dating back more than a century and one of the few college football games played on the holiday.
The SWAC East race is likely settled at ASU Stadium in November. Jackson State visits on November 14 for Hall of Fame Weekend, and Prairie View A&M — the defending conference champion — follows on November 21, giving Alabama State back-to-back home games against the league's heavyweights. Homecoming falls October 10 against Florida A&M, another East contender. The lone FBS test comes September 12 at Troy, an in-state Sun Belt trip barely fifty miles from Montgomery.
