{"id":14466,"date":"2018-01-11T21:06:02","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T21:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2018\/01\/11\/with-one-billboard-inside-tuscaloosa-ala-ucf-fans-drum-up-a-little-drama\/"},"modified":"2018-01-11T21:06:02","modified_gmt":"2018-01-11T21:06:02","slug":"with-one-billboard-inside-tuscaloosa-ala-ucf-fans-drum-up-a-little-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/with-one-billboard-inside-tuscaloosa-ala-ucf-fans-drum-up-a-little-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"With One Billboard Inside Tuscaloosa, Ala., UCF Fans Drum Up A Little Drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Colin Dwyer<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n The University of Central Florida’s Dredrick Snelson gets a lift after a touchdown against Auburn in the Peach Bowl earlier this month. Not pictured: the Alabama Crimson Tide, targets of a trolling campaign by some very determined UCF fans.<\/p>\n

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Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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As you may have heard, the Alabama Crimson Tide just won<\/a> the national college football championship. Again. In a feat of near-Groundhog Day<\/a> repetition, the program has now taken home a whopping five of the past nine titles.<\/p>\n

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As you may not have heard, the University of Central Florida Knights also won the national championship … according to UCF fans, at least.<\/p>\n

The team finished its season with a perfect record, unlike Alabama, but because its opponents were deemed too weak, the school missed the playoff to decide the official<\/em> national champion. So instead, UCF went to the Peach Bowl and beat Auburn, the one team that beat Alabama all year.<\/p>\n

By the little-known transitive property of college football, that means UCF won the title. Or something<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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alabama is \u2018national champs’
but they lost a game<\/p>\n

UCF is \u2018national champs’
but they didn’t lose all season<\/p>\n

alabama lost to auburn
UCF beat auburn<\/p>\n

UCF is the National Champion<\/p>\n

\u2014 UCF probz ? (@ucf_problems) January 9, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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Anyway, that was enough for Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who declared them national champions by official proclamation<\/a>. It was enough for UCF’s athletic director, too: Danny White confirmed that the school was paying the team’s assistant coaches<\/a> bonuses for winning the title. (Head coach Scott Frost had already gotten all the bonuses<\/a> he was contractually allowed, apparently.)<\/p>\n

Some UCF fans, however, want more: They want to see their squad actually play the Crimson Tide. And they laid down cash in order to lay down their gauntlet.<\/p>\n

Here’s the billboard now perched in Tuscaloosa, Ala., proud home of the Crimson Tide:<\/p>\n

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UCF with a message for @AlabamaFTBL<\/a> on McFarland Blvd. in Tuscaloosa. @BamaOnLine247<\/a>@Tide1029fm<\/a>pic.twitter.com\/J1ijRMywWq<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Travis Reier (@travisreier) January 10, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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“Congratulations!” it reads<\/a>. “How about a home & home series with UCF?”<\/p>\n

Now, it should be noted: The chances this will happen \u2014 this year or any year \u2014 teeter somewhere between slim and none. But that didn’t stop 37 UCF fans from pooling $1,665 on GoFundMe for the billboard, according to ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We felt like this year’s team could run with anyone in the country, and the Peach Bowl win [over Auburn] proved that,” said Sean Barakett, who says he contributed $100, told the network. “All we needed was a chance to play harder opponents.”<\/p>\n

They may be waiting a while before they get their response.<\/p>\n