On New Year's Day, the college football world took in the College Football Playoff semifinal matchups, and we got to see two great games. Michigan football took down Alabama football in the Rose Bowl, and Washington football took down Texas football in the Sugar Bowl. Now, the College Football Playoff National Championship is set as the Wolverines and Huskies will do in battle in Houston on Monday. It has been a great playoff so far, but everything will look different next season.

The four team College Football Playoff era is coming to an end as it will be expanding to 12 teams next season. College football as we know it is ending, but the new format is going to provide a lot of excitement. For example, there will be on campus playoff games, and more teams will make it, so there will bd more football. No one would say no to more football right? Well, some people would say no if the games are meaningless, and that's how prominent college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit feels.

“I think the 12-team playoff is going to create a lot of buzz,” Kirk Herbstreit recently said on ESPN's College GameDay. “How many games will that be, seven total? You have the quarterfinals, the semis and the national championship. It’s going to remind me next year of [the bowls] being worse. I think we’re heading to—I’m a college basketball fan; we all get our bracket out, March Madness. Tell me about the NIT; how’s that going for you? You know, who is even in the NIT? That’s where bowls are going next year.”

Herbstreit has a point. There are a lot of bowl games that really don't have any meaning to them, and there isn't a good reason for those games to be played. A lot of players don't even want to play in them. If a team doesn't make the College Football Playoff, their stars typically opt out of the game to avoid injury if they are planning on going to the NFL. With the playoff expanding, should these non-CFP bowl games even continue to be played?

“I think you eliminate the bowls,” Herbstreit continued. “Nobody wants to play in them, don’t play the bowls. Just have the 12 teams—we’ll get excited about those—and if you want to add maybe five or six bowls outside of that, then do five or six. But we’re getting to a point where it’s ridiculous. We’re putting 6–6 teams in bowl games nobody care about. If the players don’t want to play in them, hell with it, don’t have bowl games any more.”

Obviously it's nice to have teams rewarded for a good season with another game, but let's be honest, a lot of people don't want to watch 6-6 Northwest State Tech take on 6-6 Southern Northern State A&M in the Ketchup Bowl on a Wednesday morning in late December (I do, though). Those games are for the Sickos Committee. As long as the Pop Tarts Bowl sticks around, there are probably a fair amount of people that would agree with Herbstreit's take.

College football is changing, and with the expanded College Football Playoff, everything will look different. It's time to say farewell to the college football that we currently know, but exciting times are ahead.