SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
We're going to start the show with some weekend news getting a lot of attention - the first round of the newly revamped college football playoff. It expanded this year by a lot, and over the past few days, the full-blown 12-team tournament became a reality. Here to help us sort out what we learned from these first four games and what comes next, we are again joined by NBC Sports' lead college football insider Nicole Auerbach. Welcome back.
NICOLE AUERBACH: Yeah, thanks for having me.
DETROW: What stood out to you about this first round?
AUERBACH: Well, it was the blowouts.
DETROW: Yeah.
AUERBACH: I mean, all four games were very lopsided. The lower seeds all lost. And listen, I think a lot of people had issues with that. We obviously wanted to be glued to our TVs and watching these games and them be super competitive. But ultimately, I kind of think it's the system working. Like, I'd rather these teams end their seasons by losing on the field than being told by a bunch of selection committee members in a boardroom that they weren't good enough to play for it. So I think it's working, and it is going to set up some massive quarterfinal games. But it was disappointing, certainly.
DETROW: Yeah. What was the big surprise for you other than the blowouts?
AUERBACH: I think it was just how awesome these campus games were. This is the first time that the college football playoff had any round on campus. And you felt it. You saw it. I think the broadcast did a great job of bringing in the bands and the traditions and all the elements that made these games feel really special. You - were penalties against SMU at the Penn State home game that, you know, certainly were impacted by the student section. There were definitely a different feel to these games, and I think that was absolutely the big winner from the weekend.
DETROW: So Notre Dame, Penn State, Ohio State, Texas all move forward. Now we get into the next round that kind of lives with some of the traditional bowls that we've all known for decades, the Rose Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, things like that. You've got the by (ph) teams in there. What are you looking for for the next round?
AUERBACH: Well, we've got a couple of heavyweight fights, and I'll be at the Rose Bowl, so I'm very excited that we get an Oregon-Ohio State rematch. Best game of the regular season - it was a one-point game that Oregon won. And Ohio State's coming off their best performance of the season. They look like a national championship-caliber team. So that's going to be monster. And it's kind of going to feel like an old-school Big Ten/PAC-10 game...
DETROW: Right.
AUERBACH: ...Even though they're both in the Big Ten now. So that one's going to be really fun. And then Notre Dame and Georgia, another heavyweight fight in the Sugar Bowl - you've got Notre Dame coming off a dominant win. They've been, I think, the most dominant, most consistent team in the country the last three months, going up against a Georgia team that's going to be starting a new quarterback for the first time but also is a team that we are used to seeing compete for national championship. So the big brands clashing in those two bowl games, I think, are the headliners for the quarters.
DETROW: It is funny that for all the big changes and the reactions they got, it's a classic Rose Bowl matchup in the end.
AUERBACH: It is. It is. And I even said PAC-10 to really, you know, go back even further into college football history. But that one's going to be, I think, just awesome. It's going to feel like a national championship game, even though it's being played in the quarters.
DETROW: Lastly, when we talked a few weeks ago, you said Oregon was your favorite. Anything in the first round make you think differently about how you think this is going to play out?
AUERBACH: Well, I do still trust Oregon. Obviously, they were off this weekend. I think there was definitely a benefit to not have to play - the wear and tear and some of the injuries that we saw sustained. But I am worried about those Buckeyes. They played so much better than we've seen them play all season long. So I think the winner of the Rose Bowl would be my favorite moving forward. But I also, you know, feel really good about Notre Dame. I still think that that is a team that maybe people didn't watch after they lost to Northern Illinois early in the year and didn't see how good that defense was, how physical it was, until they watched the first round against Indiana, and they just completely controlled the game. So those are the teams I feel best about coming out of this weekend. But I think Ohio State is probably the one that most people are most surprised by and probably - you know, I think their odds to win this whole thing skyrocketed after seeing such an incredible offensive performance.
DETROW: That is NBC Sports' lead college football insider, Nicole Auerbach. Nicole, thanks a lot.
AUERBACH: Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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