Florida State opened with exactly the kind of burst the staff had been selling all offseason. Ashton Daniels and the offense pushed the ball down the field, touchdowns came on three of the first four possessions, and Tony White’s defense had Alabama going three-and-out on its first two drives. With four minutes left in the first half, the Seminoles were up 21-6 and had the Crimson Tide staring at third-and-17.
That was the high point. Everything after that belonged to Alabama.
Over the next 34 minutes, Florida State unraveled. The defense gave up points on nine straight possessions, the coaching staff had no real answer once Alabama settled in, and the Tide ripped off a 37-7 run.
Florida State’s offense kept flashing big-play ability, but the game management was messy: two touchdowns, two turnovers, and just enough of a window for Alabama to climb back into it before halftime. However it started, the finish was the story, and it wasn’t good enough.
“We have to be able to get off the field, and we showed the capability early in the game,” a dejected Mike Norvell said after the game. “We allowed too many explosive plays tonight. … As their run game got going later in the game, it did wear on us.
“Not good enough when you give up over 550 yards of offense.”
The numbers told the same story as the tape. Alabama managed just 13 yards on 10 rushes in the first quarter, then rolled up 124 yards on 14 carries in the fourth. Florida State simply didn’t have enough bodies to hold up once the game turned into a grind.
That showed up most clearly on Alabama’s final touchdown drive. After the Seminoles cut it to seven and a holding penalty pushed the Tide back to their own 10, Kalen DeBoer’s offense leaned on the run, calling it on eight of the next nine plays.
One of them went for 20 yards and a touchdown, and Florida State’s front had no extra gear left to answer. The defense finished without a sack and with only three tackles for loss from the front seven.
“It really has nothing to do with effort or want to,” linebacker Chris Jones told the media postgame. “It has to do with execution.
They came out with different things, and we did not execute the right way. … They came out with more of a gap scheme at the beginning of the game.
Then, they started running more stretch and outside zone.
“We were in bad spots in a lot of those plays.”
The depth issues were baked into the roster long before kickoff. Florida State’s offseason personnel moves left the team thin, especially on defense, and the late-game collapse reflected it.
The Seminoles were asking the Desir twins to carry too much after paying to keep them out of the transfer portal, and they combined for just 0.5 tackles for loss and no sacks. Daniel Lyons still hasn’t become the disruptive force the staff wanted, while Kevin Wynn and Jordan Sanders have not given the front enough relief behind him.
The defensive line held up early, but by the end, Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell’s 57-yard touchdown run looked like the moment everything broke.
“There was an element late where we definitely got worn down and being on the field,” Norvell lamented. “There were a few times when we had a self-inflicted miss in alignment. There are big plays when no edge shows up.
“I thought we defended the run really well early, and it was unfortunate to see where it went to.”
The problems weren’t limited to the defense. Florida State’s offense, after a strong opening script from Norvell, lost its rhythm as the game wore on.
The line, with Paul Bowling at right guard and Nate Pabst at right tackle, had trouble keeping Ashton Daniels clean and opening lanes in the run game. Daniels had his own share of processing issues, but the bigger issue was that the Seminoles just didn’t sustain drives well enough.
They finished at 3.6 yards per carry when sack yardage was removed.
The passing numbers looked impressive on paper - Daniels threw for 377 yards - but the production was heavily concentrated. Ten plays accounted for 344 of those yards, which said plenty about how Florida State was moving the ball.
Big strikes were there. Consistent pressure and drive-to-drive control were not.
“We had some missed opportunities on drives on offense that we have to have. You come on the road in a hostile environment against a good football team, you have to capitalize on those,” Norvell said.
A little more than a year after Florida State beat Alabama convincingly, the return meeting looked nothing like that game. The Seminoles were handed a 15-point cushion and still lost by two touchdowns. The gap between the promise and the result was hard to miss, and the offseason evaluation and portal decisions now sit at the center of why.
In Other News...
Mike Norvell's Future Suddenly Carries A Price FSU Fans Will Hate
Mike Norvells tenure at Florida State has reached a place nobody in Tallahassee expected when he signed that massive extension last year. He is in his seventh season with the Seminoles and carries a 39-35 record, while the deal he put pen to paper on runs through 2031 and pays in the neighborhood of $10 million to $11 million annually. The timing of the conversation around his future is made even trickier by the fact that Florida State has already moved on from athletic director Michael Alford, the man who signed off on the extension.
Now the noise around Norvell has only gotten louder, fueled in part by recent on-field frustration and even a viral photo of a moving truck at his home. If Florida State were to pull the plug after the upcoming game against Alabama, the financial hit would be staggering, with a buyout around $48 million, among the largest in college football history. That figure could drop if Norvell lands another job, but for a fan base already uneasy, the size of the bill is exactly the kind of detail that makes this situation feel more complicated by the day. [Read more 🡒]
FSUs Comeback Just Took A Brutal Turn In The Backfield
Florida States offense got a major jolt in its game against Alabama when Samuel Singleton Jr. went down after a 65-yard catch and later was seen leaving the field with crutches. Before the exit, Singleton had been a meaningful part of the Seminoles attack, helping the comeback effort and giving the backfield a needed spark.
Now the focus shifts to how Florida State fills the void if he has to miss time. The Seminoles have not yet issued an official update on Singletons status, and in the meantime the burden will fall on other running backs to pick up the workload in a game that already took a brutal turn. [Read more 🡒]
Florida State Showed Enough To Compete But One Problem Never Let Up
Florida State had enough offense to hang around with Alabama for long stretches, but the Seminoles could never fully get out from under the pressure in a 50-36 loss that was delayed twice by lightning. Their quarterback piled up 343 passing yards and accounted for four touchdowns, giving Florida State real stretches of momentum and keeping the game within reach even as Alabama answered repeatedly.
The problem never let up on the other side of the ball, where Alabama's quarterback was sharp and efficient, hitting 23 of 30 throws for 320 yards, three touchdown passes and another score on the ground. Florida State's three interceptions proved costly throughout the night, and even with the offense showing it can move, the Seminoles were left with the same lingering concern that kept every comeback attempt from gaining real traction. [Read more 🡒]