LOOK: ESPN unveils Marvel Poster for college football's slate of games

On Thursday afternoon, ESPN unveiled a Marvel comic poster for the New Year’s Eve slate of games. It has a big yellow banner at the top saying, “Welcome Home, New Year’s Six.”

No other way to bring in the New Year.

All on ESPN 🎉 pic.twitter.com/TyEfciYBOX

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) December 30, 2021

It’s a pretty cool design and you’ve got to give ESPN props for the idea. The mascots are a big part of what makes college football so very great. ESPN should be proud that it has the rights to the New Year’s Six games and the College Football Playoff.

The television broadcast rights to the College Football Playoff are not cheap. ESPN spent $608.3 million per year to show the College Football Playoff, according to a Sports Illustrated report written in 2017. The deal lasts for 12 years. Total, they dropped a whopping $7.3 billion.

The excitement around the playoff will only continue to grow in the next few years. Alabama will be in the mix as long as Nick Saban is the head coach there. It’s a huge fan base that will deliver ratings as long as they are in the College Football Playoff.

Eventually, college football will expand the playoff and it will become an even more highly-anticipated event. Die-hard fans have been clamoring for College Football Playoff expansion for several, several years, but the higher-ups in college football have refused to listen to its audience.

While having the mascots on the poster is pretty cool, most fans can’t be fooled into watching games. The on-the-field product is what matters the most in these games.

The players and coaches drive the real value for any sporting event. That’s the case for the bowl games, too. With many players opting out of bowl games due to protecting their draft stock and transfer portal drama, it definitely hurts the on-field product.

Ole Miss QB Matt Corral is a blessing for college football fans

It’ll be interesting to see what teams in the sport do to try and persuade players to play in bowl games, or if there is anything they can do. There are lots of legal and financial questions to be asked.

Players like Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral are such a rarity in today’s game. He’s likely to be selected in the top 10 of the 2022 NFL Draft and he is still playing in the Sugar Bowl vs. Baylor.

He’s got nothing to prove, and he’s been one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in college football history the past two seasons. Corral also battled injuries during the 2021 season. College football fans should be really, really thankful that he’s decided to lay it all on the line for one more game with his college teammates.