With Peyton and Cooper Manning at the helm, the crowd goes wild for Season 2 of NBC's 'College Bowl'

There's nothing like the excitement of a crowd.

Cooper Manning knows all about it. As a former athlete, he appreciates the energy an audience brings to an event. So in Season 2 of NBC's reboot of the venerable game show "College Bowl," the eldest of the three Manning brothers thinks the addition of a studio audience will bring an extra shot of excitement to the proceedings.

Kicking off at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9, with back-to-back episodes, the sophomore round of the quiz show hosted by Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning again pits teams of students from colleges and universities around the country through five rounds of rapid-fire questions. But this time around, thanks to the lifting of COVID-19 protocols, there will be mascots, cheerleaders and a studio audience cheering them on.

For Cooper Manning, who serves as sideline reporter, these new elements are big.

"I just think it made us more upbeat and excited about being there," he explains, "because you can kind of feed off the enthusiasm of the crowd ... and it elevated the happiness of the contestants. They weren't grinding so much and so focused because they knew when they got on a roll, it was encouraging. You know, Peyton and I are at each other's throats anyway the whole time, so that comes naturally. I think the crowd likes when we make fun of each other."

But behind the fun is work. Neither Peyton nor Cooper see the questions that will be posed to the students until 90 minutes before taping, at which point Peyton crams to make sure he has his pronunciations correct and Cooper seeks out fun facts relating to the questions.

The two grew up in a competitive household led by father Archie, the longtime quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, who raised Peyton, Cooper and youngest brother Eli (who won two Super Bowls as quarterback for the New York Giants) on football and trivia quizzes. So when the opportunity arose to resurrect "College Bowl," the brothers' interest was piqued. All three are executive producers here.

Cooper, whose career as a wide receiver was cut short by injury before his freshman year at Mississippi, relishes the chance to work with his two-time Super Bowl champion and five-time NFL MVP brother, though he admits their five 12-hour work days in June when they shot the entire Season 2 could get a little intense.

Still, he's not complaining.

"Everybody lives in different spots and have got busy schedules," he says, "so it's kind of fun. Not many people get to spend a week with their brother once a year and working together and collaborating and laughing. We laughed a lot along the way at some of the things I tried to sneak into the script but failed. That was always a good point for some levity."