After beating Auburn in the Peach Bowl, UCF has declared itself national champions and has been carrying on with that claim for weeks now.

Even as the rest of the country acknowledges that Alabama is the champion, the Knights are sticking to their guns and aren’t letting it go.

Even at the Senior Bowl in Mobile this week, former UCF players are saying they feel they are the champions of the college football world (via AL.com):

“We felt like we proved to the world that we can play with anybody in the country by beating Auburn,” UCF tight end Jordan Akins. “I think we earned the right to call ourselves national champions….We played our asses off. We just wanted a chance.”

Akins acknowledged that Auburn players at this week’s event aren’t taking it so well, but said they haven’t heard anything negative from Alabama players:

“I’ve gotten a couple of dirty looks from some Auburn players,” Akins acknowledged. “I think Alabama is pretty much happy we beat Auburn.”

LB Shaquem Griffin added that he’s going to keep calling UCF champions since they went undefeated in 2017:

“If you want to go ahead and look into our schedule and you see an ‘L,’ just let me know,” he said. “As soon as you can find one, then you can take national champions away from us.”

This story doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon, so we’ll have to wait and see how the Knights do in 2018.