http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/21954302/ucf-not-first-school-call-national-champion
Another article from ESPN.
Plenty of charged words have been used to describe what UCF is doing.
Here's another word: tradition.
It's a proud tradition for college programs to claim national championships, even if virtually no one outside of their campuses acknowledges them. The sport's history books are filled with teams writing their own chapters.
Odds are, those eviscerating UCF root for a team that claims a questionable championship or four. Good luck finding a sport with more haziness surrounding its national championship. The Knights are merely the latest to crown themselves.
Is their title any less legitimate than the one claimed by Alabama in 1941? The Tide went 9-2 and finished third in the SEC and ranked No. 20 in the final AP poll, which was compiled before the bowl games. Even though Minnesota is the acknowledged national champion that season, Alabama claims a title because something called the Houlgate System selected the Tide as the top team.