Saturday Blitz Podcast: FCS college football preview for 2019

The Saturday Blitz Podcast crew begins their series of 2019 college football previews with a breakdown of the FCS, HBCU, and Ivy League races.

In just 52 days, the 150th season of college football will kick off with a showcase showdown between Sunshine State rivals Florida and Miami. Over the course of the next few months, we will be previewing the rapidly approaching season.

What makes college football so great is that there is an opportunity for suspense and drama at every level of the sport. While the bulk of the country’s focus will inevitably be on those 130 or so teams that comprise the FBS, it would be foolish to completely draw one’s eyes away from the rest of Division I.

This week, John and I dive in to open up the previews with a look at the oft-forgotten souls of the FCS. The beauty of this level of college football is that it is by no means monolithic. Every year the race to the NCAA playoff and the run through the bracket is the big storyline, but it is by no means the only storyline to follow over the course of the season.

Yes, we of course talk about the perennial heavy hitters of the playoff like North Dakota State and James Madison, and the teams that have the best chance to unseat the Dukes and Bison for the national title. But we also dive in a bit to discuss the MEAC and SWAC battles for the two spots in the Celebration Bowl that crowns the HBCU national champion each season, and also take a look at the quest for Ivy League supremacy.

What might at first seem like a clear-cut subdivision with one playoff-tested champion is anything but, when you scratch below the surface. So come along as we distill down the essence of this year’s FCS races.

The Saturday Blitz Podcast is part of the FanSided Radio Network at Spreaker. The show goes live every Wednesday morning. You can reach John Mitchell at @jlmitchell93 and Zach Bigalke at @zbigalke on Twitter.