Blitz Podcast: Coaching, draft departures and the national championship

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

The Saturday Blitz Podcast returns to discuss the coaching carousel, early NFL Draft exits, and the upcoming College Football Playoff national championship.

Only one game remains in the 150th season of college football. Clemson and LSU prepare to put the finishing touches on the 2019 season with their matchup in the College Football Playoff national championship in New Orleans on Monday, Jan. 13. That, however, has hardly been the only news circulating around college football as we dive back in for another week of the Saturday Blitz Podcast.

In the first segment, we go into some of the coaching changes around college football. Discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly of the coaching carousel, we go into how the various conferences might look next year with new leadership on the sidelines. (NOTE: This week’s podcast was recorded prior to Matt Rhule’s departure from Baylor to take over the Carolina Panthers in the NFL.)

After the first break, the conversation in this week’s podcast shifts toward players who have opted to forgo their last year or two of eligibility and officially declared early for the NFL Draft. While this list will likely grow over the next few weeks, we break down by position who will no longer be playing on the college football gridiron next season and where they might land in the 2020 NFL Draft this spring.

That is all a prelude, though, for our final segment. This week’s podcast uses the final segment this week to break down the matchup between No. 1 LSU and No. 3 Clemson in the College Football Playoff national championship. We dive deep into the numbers to see how the offenses, defenses, and special teams units stack up against one another before offering up our unexpected players to watch and our final picks of the year against the spread.

The Saturday Blitz Podcast will remain on a weekly recording schedule once the college football season is completely in the books, but don’t miss out on the last chance to talk about actual upcoming game action this season!

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.