UCF declares themselves national champions
WEB EXCLUSIVE
Against UCF declaring themselves national champions
During these past two seasons UCF accomplished a lot, winning 25 straight games is quite an accomplishment. UCF does play in an incredibly weak conference; their biggest competitors being Cincinnati and USF which shows that they don’t play against any real competition. And beating Auburn in the Peach Bowl last year doesn’t show very much, since they had an immense amount of time to practice and focus on the weakness of Auburn. Auburn also had no respect for UCF since they don’t play in a powerhouse like the SEC. UCF took this win to a whole different level; they declared themselves national champions, or should I say Rick Scott declared them national champions. Ucf was not in the championship game, nor was UCF ever considered to be in the playoffs.
UCF’s loss against LSU proves the already known fact that UCF is still not ready to compete on the same level of the power five conferences. LSU had seven starters out for the game, some players didn’t want to take the chance of getting injured before the draft. Without their starters LSU still managed to pull off a great win, beating he so-called “National champions”. Even though UCF’s starting quarterback was out, it really proved that if they couldn’t beat LSU without their starters they could never beat the elite schools like Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, and Georgia.
To think like a UCF fan, since Florida beat LSU and LSU beat UCF, and Florida beat FSU then doesn’t that make Florida the best college football team in Florida.
For UCF declaring themselves national champions
When the UCF football program declared themselves 2017 national champions, many were outraged. While it is often considered obscure, the Colley-Matrix ranking system placed UCF as the top college football team in the nation, which sparked those claims. After throwing a national championship parade at Disney, and producing national champion banners and merchandise, people questioned whether or not the school had gone too far.
There are many factors to consider when discussing the legitimacy of UCF. Over the past two seasons, they amassed an impressive 25-game win streak before losing to LSU in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day, 2019. One of the key arguments against UCF is that their strength of schedule was incredibly weak, because they play in the American Athletic Conference against sub-par opponents. On the other hand, UCF won the Peach Bowl last year against an Auburn team that defeated Alabama, who went on to win the College Football Playoff national championship.
Even this year, UCF put up a fight against a tough LSU team, despite having their backup quarterback starting his third career game. Many college football fans that had long been waiting for UCF’s streak to end rejoiced, and were very vocal on social media. They were tired of hearing the national championship claims and attention gained by UCF.
Although UCF’s national championship celebration was a bit outlandish, they do not deserve the hate they have received from many college football fans. UCF deserves respect for their accomplishments, and recognition for their incredible winning streak. They have established themselves and their winning ways, and they are not going away anytime soon.
Your donation will support the student journalists of Oviedo High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting and printing costs. Thank you!