Sadly, not even
former coach Scott Frost is on board with UCF’s “national championship” campaign, writes Mike Bianchi.
Running off at the typewriter …
Tsk, tsk, how soon they forget where they came from. Not even former coach Scott
Frost considers last year’s undefeated UCF football team as the “national champions.”
Last week it was former offensive coordinator Troy Walters who separated himself from UCF’s national-championship claims and now it’s Frost, who left UCF to become the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
“I completely get behind their argument,” Frost told USA Today. “I do think it was almost criminal how low they kept UCF in the rankings, and I think it was intentional. But at the end of the day, the playoff system is that
the national champion is the team that wins the playoff.
“All I’ll say is if we had stayed there, I would have had a hard time getting behind it,” Frost added. “I think it was smart by them because it has kept UCF in the media and in the conversation. But you know, like our rings, I kind of wish my ring just said ‘Undefeated Season’ and ‘Peach Bowl Champion.’ ”
For UCF fans and the players like Shaquem
Griffin who totally believe they are national champions, the words of their coaches — Frost and Walters — have to be utterly and completely disappointing.
I prefer the stance of college football legends such as Steve Spurrier,
Bobby Bowden and Tim Tebow, all of whom have voiced their unwavering support for UCF’s national-championship proclamations, parades, banners and rings.
Spurrier told me: “UCF is a darn good team, they’re the only undefeated team in the country and they beat the team [Auburn] that beat the teams [Georgia and Alabama] who played in the national-championship game. Why shouldn’t they be national champions?”
Bowden told the Omaha World-Herald: “I’ll be honest with you; they [UCF] deserve the national title in my opinion.”
Tebow chimed in on UCF’s behalf when the Knights were being criticized for trumpeting their self-proclaimed national championship.
“I think it’s awesome. Celebrate it!” Tebow said on the Paul Finebaum Show.
Too bad UCF’s former coaches don’t feel the same way.
But I guess this is just the way it is when you leave for a privileged Power 5 program.
Sadly, you don’t want to buck the system once you become a part of it.
SHORT STUFF: I’ve narrowed my pick for today’s Kentucky Derby down to two: It’ll either be the big brown horse or the big black horse. … Biggest bust of the 2018 NFL Draft: The parrot named
Zsa Zsa who was supposed to announce the Bucs’ fourth-round pick and instead sat obliviously on her trainer’s shoulder without even making a squawk. I guess you could say the whole idea was strictly for the birds. … And speaking of Zsa Zsa, my favorite quote from late great gold digger Zsa
Zsa Gabor: “I’m a marvelous housekeeper — every time I leave a man, I keep his house.” … Did you see where Orlando City coach
Jason Kreis is now posting on Twitter? #TweetingIntensityAndFocus. … Speaking of tweeting, after the Knicks hired David Fizdale earlier this week, my buddy Brandon tweeted out that Fizdale was a coaching candidate that Magic fans were “clamoring for.” Um, Magic fans are not in a clamor; they’re in a coma.
The New York Times reports that Washington Redskins cheerleaders were required to pose topless for a 2013 photo shoot in Costa Rica while in the presence of male sponsors who were invited by the team. The Times also reported that some cheerleaders felt like they were being “pimped out” after being required to serve as escorts to a nightclub for some of the team’s male sponsors. New team motto: “We’re a sexist organization with a racist nickname!” ...Good news for Magic fans: Aaron
Gordon finally made a playoff appearance. Bad news: It was the Stanley Cup playoffs, where Gordon was the celebrity guest chosen for the ceremonial opening of the locker-room door as his hometown San Jose Sharks made their way to the ice for a game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Someday maybe Gordon will open the door for a Magic playoff run. Hey, we can dream, can’t we?
BREAKING NEWS:
Based on unfairly stripping Winter Park’s girls water-polo team of a state tournament-qualifying victory over Lake Mary because referees administered the wrong overtime rules, the Florida High School Athletic Association
has also decided to retroactively reverse
Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception and
Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal for potential officiating errors as well. … Orlando Pride goalkeeper
Ashlyn Harris appeared to administer a clothesline takedown of Seattle’s
Jodie Taylor last week, but the National Women’s Soccer League issued no punishment whatsoever. If Harris had been playing by new NFL rules, she would have been ejected for targeting. Marketing mantra for NWSL: “Step aside, Roger Goodell , we are putting physicality back into football.”
LAST WORD: “A new study found that one in four Americans said they would have sex with a robot at least once just to try it. Which might explain why your Roomba won’t come out from under the couch.” —
Email me at mbianchi@orlando sentinel.com. Hit me up on Twitter @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on FM 96.9 and AM 740.