Florida lawmakers asked to name UCF national champs
Florida lawmakers are being asked to do something the College Football Playoff Committee won’t: Declare the UCF Knights national champions.
Kevin Cate, a Democratic consultant and Auburn University graduate, tweeted this week that the Legislature should consider a resolution proclaiming UCF the nation’s best football team after it knocked off Auburn 34-27 in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day.
On Twitter, the idea gained support from UCF graduates Rep. Amber Mariano, R-Dunedin, and Chris Latvala, R-Clearwater, as well as Reps. Kionne McGhee, D-Miami; and Sen. Oscar Branyon II, D-Miami Gardens.
“They’re undefeated, and they beat a team that beat both of the teams in the national championship game, in my Auburn Tigers,” Cate said Wednesday. “It
may be symbolic in nature, but the players, coaches and school deserve it. … I think anyone who was watching that Auburn game — even if you’re an Auburn fan like me — if you didn’t get the chills watching that, I can’t help you.”
Cate said he feels the pain of UCF fans who feel wronged by the system that determines champions. In his senior year at Auburn, the Tigers went undefeated but weren’t chosen to play in the 2004 national championship game played between Southern Cal and Oklahoma.
House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, hasn’t weighed in on the idea, but his spokesman Fred Piccolo embraced it.
“I vote HELL YES,” wrote UCF graduate Piccolo in an email. “The Gators and Seminoles here [in Tallahassee] are not keen on it. But I am still working on them.”
Soon after Monday’s game ended, UCF declared itself national champions. Athletic Director Danny White told ESPN the school was planning a parade and tweeted it would raise a banner signifying a national championship in Spectrum Stadium.
Historically, programs such as Alabama and Oklahoma State have laid claim to championships that the NCAA doesn’t recognize.
And despite UCF finishing as the nation’s lone undefeated team, CFB chairman Kirby Hocutt told ESPN he “strongly believes the selection committee got it right this season” in not choosing UCF for the playoff.