When you win as Central Florida used to win, you can kind of create your own reality. You can act like a Power Five school, even though you’re not one. You can try to bully your big-name in-state opponents into playing, even if they have little incentive to do so. You can even claim a national championship you didn’t win.
But when you’re a humility-free organization that constantly claims grievance, you better keep excelling or the bill will come due.
That day is today. Whatever complaints UCF has had in the past about not getting respect because of the American Athletic Conference or not getting the non-conference games it wants when and where it wants them are now falling on deaf ears.