TUSCALOOSA, Ala. \u2014 Florida State left its opening game of the 2025 season with a statement victory against Alabama, while the Crimson Tide left Tallahassee with questions about where they were headed.<\/p>\n
The months that followed changed the outlook for both programs.<\/p>\n
No. 10 Alabama (2-0) hosts Florida State (1-1) on Saturday Bryant-Denny Stadium to wrap up the home-and-home series a year after the Seminoles’ 31-17 stunner against the Tide at Doak Campbell Stadium wrongly suggested where the teams were going.<\/p>\n
Alabama recovered, with the Tide winning 10 of their next 11 games to reach the Southeastern Conference title matchup and earn a berth in the 12-team College Football Playoff despite losing to Georgia with the league championship on the line. They then won their CFP opener at Oklahoma to avenge a regular-season home loss to the Sooners in SEC play, but the Tide were routed by eventual national champion Indiana of the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal.<\/p>\n
Florida State started 3-0 before losing seven of its final nine games, missing a bowl for the second consecutive season under embattled head coach Mike Norvell, who hasn’t won more than two Atlantic Coast Conference games in a season since the Seminoles went 8-0 in league play and won the ACC title game in 2023.<\/p>\n
Now, a year later, both programs have different quarterbacks and another opportunity to measure progress.<\/p>\n
“In our minds, this is the 2026 team,” Alabama third-year head coach Kalen DeBoer said Monday. “I just talked to the team about that this morning.”<\/p>\n
DeBoer acknowledged that returning players and coaches remember the loss but want any additional motivation directed toward preparation.<\/p>\n
“The people who were here, we understand what happened last year and what that was like,” Alabama cornerback Zabien Brown said. “And for the people who weren’t here, I’m sure they’ve seen it all over the media, so it’s not really something that needs to be overly brought up. Everybody knows what happened.”<\/p>\n
Alabama enters the rematch after scoring 32 unanswered points to beat Kentucky 45-17 in the SEC opener for both teams. Tide quarterback Keelon Russell overcame three first-half turnovers in his first road start, providing both encouragement and reminders of the offense’s growing pains.<\/p>\n
Florida State returns from an open date after a 27-24 loss to SMU, the ACC opener for both teams. Former Auburn quarterback Ashton Daniels will face Alabama again, this time directing a Seminoles offense preparing for its first road game.<\/p>\n
“I have a lot of belief,” said Norvell, in his seventh season at Florida State, where he took over after a four-year run at Memphis. “I have a lot of confidence in what I know this team can do because I’ve watched them for the last nine months. Now we get a great opponent and a great stage to go showcase all of who we are.”<\/p>\n
Daniels rushed for 108 yards and threw for 259 as Auburn’s starter in the Tigers’ 27-20 loss to Alabama in the Iron Bowl rivalry matchup on Thanksgiving weekend last season.<\/p>\n
The Tide need to pressure him without allowing escapes that extend possessions or give receivers more time to get open. His ability to gain yards outside the pocket adds another consideration for a defense trying to contain Ousmane Kromah, who rushed for 116 yards against SMU, helping Florida State finish with 199 yards on the ground compared with 125 passing.<\/p>\n
Norvell also identified backfield protection as a factor in getting receiver Duce Robinson more involved after he had just two catches for 25 yards against the Mustangs.<\/p>\n
Norvell said Alabama’s ability to cover receivers individually allows the Tide’s defense to commit another player to the run, putting pressure on the Seminoles to produce through the air. Success on early downs could help the visitors avoid asking their passing game to repeatedly rescue possessions.<\/p>\n
The Seminoles went 2-for-15 on third down against SMU. Alabama has allowed opponents to convert just one of 23 attempts on the so-called “money down” this season.<\/p>\n
Florida State surrendered 585 yards (including 430 passing) against SMU, but the defense’s four takeaways helped the Seminoles keep the game close.<\/p>\n
As for the Tide’s offense, receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams’ struggles with dropping passes began during the 2025 opener against the Seminoles and remain part of the conversation a year later. The junior, much heralded as a 17-year-old freshman in 2024, gets a chance to squash some of those concerns Saturday.<\/p>\n
DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb are also seeking a dependable ground game to help take some of pressure off Russell, Coleman-Williams and the rest of the air attack.<\/p>\n
Alabama freshmen running backs Trae’shawn Brown and EJ Crowell each scored a touchdown in Alabama’s first two games, and Daniel Hill rushed for 104 yards against Kentucky. The group eventually could welcome back AK Dear, who sustained an ankle injury in the preseason and did not play in the first two games, although DeBoer said he was eased back into practice ahead of the trip to Kentucky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TUSCALOOSA, Ala. \u2014 Florida State left its opening game of the 2025 season with a statement victory against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-404210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}