Following the big news of the day, Alabama and Texas have agreed to a home-and-home series for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, UCF has once again found itself in the center of the story.

The self-proclaimed national champions, despite what their former coach Scott Frost or Nick Saban has to say about that, find themselves the victims of the Crimson Tide’s scheduling news. But before getting to that, here’s what Alabama’s coach had to say about UCF’s claims to the national championship.

“If you honor and respect the system that we have, (despite) some of the imperfections that you understand that the system has, then you wouldn’t do something out of respect for the system that we have,” Saban said according to George Schroeder of USA TODAY Sports. “I guess anybody has the prerogative to claim anything. But self-proclaimed is not the same as actually earning it. And there’s probably a significant number of people who don’t respect people who make self-proclaimed sort of accolades for themselves.”

Ouch. It’s clear, despite how diplomatic he’s trying to be, Saban doesn’t think much of UCF’s claim.

Which brings us back to the Knights. Due to the fact Texas wanted a chance to play the defending national champs, UCF has been dropped from the Longhorns’ future schedule in favor of Alabama. The Crimson Tide have now taken UCF’s spot on Texas’ 2023 schedule.

This comment from the SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic says it best: