For the first 28 minutes of Saturday’s matchup vs. Alabama, Florida State looked like world beaters.

Florida State seemingly shook off its third-down woes on both sides of the ball from weeks before, shutting down Alabama while hitting explosives through the air to build up a 21-6 lead.

Then the game, delayed by over an hour and a half due to lightning in the area, was also suspended late in the second quarter following Alabama’s first touchdown of the day. The Tide scored again five plays later, successfully turning a 15-point deficit at the start of the quarter to a 28-21 lead by the end of it.

Alabama took advantage of two Ashton Daniels interceptions to build its way back into the game as it scored on eight straight drives, taking the lead for the first time right before halftime and once more for good in the third en route to a 50-36 win.

FSU managed to lead briefly once more in the third quarter, made possible by a dynamic catch-and-run from Sam Singleton Jr. for 65 yards.

But the Seminoles were unable to go fully go blow-for-blow with the Tide, despite a valiant effort to do so. Trailing 48-20 in the third, Florida State seemingly stalled out near midfield but got a second chance after a roughing-the-punter penalty. FSU nearly pulled within five off a throw from Daniels to Jayvan Boggs, but the receiver was just barely unable to pull in the catch. On 4th-and-2, Duce Robinson was unable to bring in a catch and the Seminoles gave the ball back to Alabama with 12:07 in the fourth.

The Florida State defense managed to limit the damage to a field goal, keeping it a two-score game.

FSU went 66 yards in two plays on its next possession, first a 40-yard reception by Robinson and then a 27-yarder from Micahi Danzy. Daniels kept it himself for the score on an impressive six-yard rush and then called his own number once again for the two-point conversion, making it 43-36.

It looked like the Seminoles were about to catch a major break after Alabama was whistled for holding on the subsequent kickoff, but an 18-yard rush kicked off a series of big runs to carry the Tide towards midfield and eventually the end zone, a 9-play, 90-yarder to officially put the game out of reach for Florida State.

Florida State drove to the Alabama 47-yard line off an impressive catch-and-run from Boggs, but on the next play, Daniels threw a ball directly to an Alabama defender, his third interception on the night.

With the loss FSU falls to 1-2 on the season, the fourth time in the Mike Norvell era that the Seminoles are under .500 after three games.

Alabama 50, FSU 36: Final stats

Total Yards: FSU 471, Alabama 615
Pass Yards: FSU 377, Alabama 320
Rush Yards: FSU 94, Alabama 295
Penalties: FSU 6-40, Alabama 8-60
1st Downs: FSU 18, Alabama 26
3rd Downs: FSU 8-14, Alabama 4-12
4th Downs: FSU 1-2, Alabama 2-2
Total Plays: FSU 63, Alabama 66
Avg Yds/Play: FSU 7.5, Alabama 9.3
Avg Yds/Completion: FSU 23.6, Alabama 13.9
Avg Yds/Rush: FSU 2.7, Alabama 8.2
Sack-Adj Rush Yds (Avg): FSU 114 (3.6), Alabama 306 (8.7)
Red Zone: FSU 5-5, Alabama 4-4
Time of Possession: FSU 27:45, Alabama 30:58
Turnovers (Def. Points Off): FSU 3 (9), Alabama 0 (0)
Fumbles-Lost: FSU 1-0, Alabama 0-0
Sacks (Def. Yds): FSU 1 (11), Alabama 3 (20)
TFL (Def. Yds): FSU 6 (19), Alabama 6 (24)