UCF’s claim legitimate

Regarding Stephen Witenko’s Monday letter to the editor: While the NCAA sanctions a championship playoff for Divisions II and III, and the Football Championship Subdivision, it does not declare a champion of the Football Bowl Subdivision. The NCAA did not decide how a “true” champion would be determined; it simply continued its policy of not declaring an FBS champion.

The College Football Playoff is a creation of athletic directors and university presidents with no involvement from the NCAA. A committee comprised primarily of representatives from the five largest conferences select the teams and the winner is honored as the National Champion.

The University of Central Florida’s claim to the title is legitimate and has been confirmed by some of the rating services originally used by the Bowl Championship Series, and many newspapers around the country have supported the claim.

Most recently, The Observer, the student newspaper serving Notre Dame, said that “UCF deserves recognition as this year’s national champion.” The rationale is simple: The two teams that played for the CFP title were beaten by Auburn, and UCF beat Auburn soundly in the Peach Bowl, allowing UCF to finish the season 13-0 as the only undefeated team in the FBS. For UCF, the CFP awarded a No. 12 ranking behind several two- and three-loss teams.

UCF is not embarrassed, but very proud. Ron Cartwright Oviedo