Central Florida AD says school planning parade for season worthy of national title

CLOSE Outgoing Central Florida coach Scott Frost says he believes there was a "conscious effort" to keep his team out of this year's College Football Playoff. Time_Sports

UCF celebrated a perfect season Monday after beating Auburn in the Peach Bowl. (Photo: Getty Images)

Central Florida is going all-in on its national championship claim.

After beating Auburn in the Peach Bowl to wrap up an undefeated season, the Knights are planning to hold a parade to celebrate a year that they believe is worthy of a national championship, athletic director Danny White said in a radio interview with ESPN on Tuesday.

White said on The Dan Le Betard Show that he believes UCF, the only undefeated team in the Football Bowl Subdivision, deserves to be considered national champion, and the athletic department plans to recognize the Knights as such.

"Hopefully in the coming days, a lot more people will become believers, as well," White said. "We're going to continue to promote the fact that we feel like we're deserving of a national championship."

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UCF spokesperson Andy Seeley told USA TODAY Sports in an e-mail that the school was still finalizing details of the parade as of early Tuesday afternoon.

The Knights, who play in the American Athletic Conference, were never ranked higher than 10th in the College Football Playoff rankings, though every team ahead of them in the rankings had at least one loss by the end of the regular season.

Outgoing UCF coach Scott Frost said after Monday's win that the playoff committee seemed to make a "conscious effort" to keep the Knights out of the national semifinals by ranking them in the teens late in the regular season.

Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

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