Alabama has spent the first three games of its 2026 season refusing to settle into any kind of easy-to-read pattern.
One week, the Tide looks vulnerable. The next, it looks like the version people expected all along. Saturday’s 50-36 win over Florida State fit that theme perfectly, turning a supposedly straightforward home game into another reminder that this team can be rattled before it finally takes over.
Florida State jumped ahead 21-6 after a lightning delay at Bryant-Denny Stadium, and for a while it looked like the Seminoles might pull off the kind of road win that had seemed out of reach for them. That came after a week in which their coach had to knock down rumors about moving trucks outside his home. A team that had not won a road game in three seasons was suddenly in control.
But Alabama has already shown this year that being shaky early does not mean being done. A week earlier, Kentucky - described as SEC bottom-feeder Kentucky - had taken a halftime lead on the Tide while chasing its first win over Alabama in 30 seasons. Alabama recovered there, too, and did the same again Saturday.
The win, though, didn’t make the questions disappear. If anything, it sharpened them.
Alabama’s first three games have been manageable on paper, even if Kentucky’s shock win Saturday at Texas A&M adds another wrinkle. The tougher part of the schedule is still ahead, and the Tide’s uneven stretches make it hard to know exactly what to expect next.
The defense, which got a public endorsement from Nick Saban on College Gameday, did not back up that praise against Florida State. Saban had said, "Alabama's got a real defense," and pointed to the unit’s third-down numbers, pass rush and secondary.
Instead, the Tide allowed Florida State to convert 8 of 15 third downs, including seven of its first nine. That 53% rate was one of the 13 highest against Alabama since 2014.
The secondary had been viewed as one of the best in the country, but it gave up 377 passing yards and 10 completions of 15 yards or more to Ashton Daniels and the Seminoles.
Alabama’s offense, meanwhile, took its time before snapping into gear. The Tide went three-and-out on its first two possessions, then scored on the next nine drives and ripped off five straight touchdowns.
Keelon Russell continued to steady things after his turnover-filled first half against Kentucky. He has not turned the ball over since, and on Saturday he completed 23 of 30 passes for 320 yards and three passing touchdowns.
The ground game followed the same script. Alabama managed only 29 total rushing yards in the first halves against Kentucky and Florida State, then piled up 370 combined yards on the ground after halftime in those two games.
So Alabama is 3-0, which is exactly where most people expected it to be. But the path there has been anything but smooth, and the bigger question still hangs over everything: how good is this Tide team, really?
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Alabama's Mike Norvell Near-Miss Looks Even Bigger Now
When Nick Saban announced his retirement in January 2024, Mike Norvell surfaced as a serious name in Alabamas search, with reports indicating he had moved into advanced talks with the Crimson Tides athletic director. In the end, Norvell stayed at Florida State after landing a contract extension, closing what looked at the time like one of the biggest coaching possibilities of the offseason.
Since then, the backdrop in Tallahassee has only grown shakier, with Florida States football fortunes sliding and the programs athletic director recently being fired. For Alabama fans looking back on that search, the near-miss feels more significant now, because the decision to stay put has placed Norvell in a far more uncertain spot than the one he passed up. [Read more 🡒]
Keelon Russell May Have Changed Alabamas Ceiling Faster Than Expected
Keelon Russell gave Alabama a jolt in the comeback win over Florida State, and he did it with the kind of poise that can change how a season feels in a hurry. Down 21-6, the quarterback helped the Crimson Tide score on seven straight possessions, finishing 23 of 30 for 320 yards and three touchdowns while adding 56 rushing yards and another score in the 50-36 victory.
For Alabama, the performance was about more than one flashy afternoon. Russell still described himself as a quarterback in development afterward, which is the part that should make the rest of the sport take notice, because if this is where he is while still growing into the job, the ceiling in Tuscaloosa may have moved up faster than anyone expected. [Read more 🡒]
SEC Power Struggles Keep Reshaping The World Around Alabama
Conference disputes have become a defining backdrop for the sport Alabama lives in, with schools and leagues repeatedly testing just how much control each side really has. LSUs effort to add former NFL training camp players to its roster and the SECs response is only the latest reminder that the ground around college football keeps shifting, whether it is a coach suspension in the Big Ten, Florida States lawsuit against the ACC over media rights or Washingtons sanctions from the old Pac-10.
For Alabama, the bigger point is how often these fights reshape the competitive landscape before anyone plays a game. Texas A&Ms move into the SEC came out of frustration with the Big 12, and the pattern is familiar enough now that each new dispute feels like another sign of a sport still working through who has leverage, who gets heard and what happens when schools decide their conference no longer fits the job they want done. [Read more 🡒]