After taking down Auburn in the Peach Bowl to finish undefeated, the UCF Knights have famously declared themselves national champions. Apparently, that struck a nerve with Tulane, which accomplished a similar feat in 1998, going undefeated after beating BYU in the Liberty Bowl that year.
A bookstore near Tulane (h/t College Football Talk) is now selling 1998 national championship T-shirts, riding UCF’s coattails to make some extra money on this hot-button topic.
We really appreciate this writeup on CFT but we just need to clarify that we are NOT affiliated with the school. We are an alumni-owned store just blocks from campus. #rollwave #nationalchamps98 https://t.co/80rOf2o2pl
— CampusConnection💚🌊 (@TulaneShop) January 5, 2018
Additionally, as Kevin McGuire of CFT pointed out, there’s now a note on the 1998 Tulane Green Wave football Wikipedia page to note that team is a “National champion.”
Has this always been on Wikipedia, or is this new in light of t-shirts being sold at Tulane? pic.twitter.com/8XH6zEu41j
— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) January 5, 2018
It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but Tulane does make a solid, if not unintentional, point here.
As much as it stinks UCF didn’t get a fair shake by the CFP selection committee, the whole notion that the Knights are national champions is a bit too far out there.
Unless you’re a fan of the Green Wave and/or the Knights, of course.