When the college football playoffs kick off this weekend, they’ll confirm the game’s status as one of the hottest tickets in all of American sports, its popularity continuing to surge even in the face of recent rule changes that make traditionalists cringe.

Controversial pay-to-play “name-image-likeness” rules now allow star players to make millions of dollars while they compete as student-athletes.  

Then there’s the new “transfer portal,” which allows players to shop their talents and jump from school to school to play for the highest bidder. 

It’s created a lot of turmoil for sure, but so far it hasn’t ruined the sport, as many feared.

The grand pageantry and traditions of college football, played at on-campus stadiums crammed with as many as 100,000 crazed students, remain intact.

One of the big worries — that rich and powerful schools like Michigan and Louisiana State University would spend their way to domination — has definitely........

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