Georgia and Alabama will square off in the College Football Playoff championship next week, but Central Florida is claiming the 2017 national title anyway.
And UCF is paying its former assistants for winning it, too.
Following a 13-0 season and a Peach Bowl victory over Auburn, UCF Athletic Director Danny White tweeted that the school plans to raise a national championship banner and hold a parade at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
Coach Scott Frost was hired away from the Knights in December by Nebraska and will bring all of his assistants with him to Lincoln, but White confirmed on Twitter that UCF will give bonuses to the assistants.
A UCF spokesman told The World-Herald the assistants as a whole received bonuses for the following achievements:
» Bowl game: $189,167.
» AAC championship game participation: $50,000.
» AAC championship game win: $25,000.
» New Year’s Six bowl win: $75,000.
» National championship: $300,000.
That money was then added together for a total of $639,167. Frost then divided it up and awarded bonus money to each assistant at his discretion, according to UCF.
Frost himself did not receive a bonus for the “national championship.” He already exceeded his bonus cap of $250,000 by taking UCF to the conference title game, winning that game and defeating Auburn in the Peach Bowl.
UCF was the only team in college football to finish the regular season undefeated but never rose above No. 12 in the College Football Playoff rankings. Frost said on Monday he thought there was “a conscious effort” to keep UCF out of the top of the poll.
“It looked like a conscious effort to me to make sure that they didn’t have a problem if they put us too high and a couple teams ahead of us lost — and oh, no, now we have to put them in a playoff,” Frost said. “But we just beat a team that beat two playoff teams and lost to another one by six points and we beat them by seven.”
At Nebraska, Frost’s bonus structure is set for him to make $100,000 should the Huskers win the Big Ten West, $200,000 if the Huskers appear in the Big Ten title game and $300,000 if NU wins the Big Ten.
Frost can also earn $150,000 for a non-College Football Playoff bowl appearance, $250,000 if Nebraska makes a New Year’s Six Bowl, $300,000 for a College Football Playoff berth, $350,000 for appearing in the CFP national title game and $650,000 for winning the national title.
