The final whistle of the national championship game also signals a new beginning.
The college football playoff system will be televised on ESPN for 12 years once it starts after the 2014 season, the network said Wednesday.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has agreed to a 12-year deal with ESPN for the rights to televise the Orange Bowl, with the conference champion facing either Notre Dame or a team from the Big Ten or SEC.
BCS conference commissioners have identified candidate cities to host the first championship game in college football's new postseason system, and the four current BCS bowls will be among the choices.
The best way to determine a major college football champion seemed so obvious to so many for so long. Just have a playoff.
Playoffs and tournaments long have determined champions of every college sport from baseball to bowling.

Playoffs and tournaments long have determined champions of every college sport from baseball to bowling.
The BCS commissioners reached a consensus Wednesday on a model for a four-team, seeded playoff that will be presented to the university presidents next week for approval.
The guys in charge of changing the BCS are headed back to Chicago, hoping to make more progress at a meeting Wednesday than they did the last time they were there.