Florida State’s trip to Tuscaloosa brings the same basic question that defined last year’s win over Alabama: can the Seminoles control the game up front?
A year ago, they didn’t beat the Crimson Tide with trickery or a flash-heavy plan. They lined up, leaned on the run game and imposed their will in a 31-17 win in Tallahassee. Florida State ran the ball 49 times for 230 yards and four touchdowns, while Alabama was held to 87 rushing yards on 29 carries.
Now the rematch shifts to Saturday in Tuscaloosa, and Mike Norvell made it clear the matchup still comes down to familiar ground.
“We know this team, we played this team a year ago,” head coach Mike Norvell said Monday. “Obviously, new personnel, just like we have some new personnel.”
The faces are different, but the Seminoles’ rushing attack has been every bit as central to their start. Through two games, Florida State has piled up 452 rushing yards on 79 attempts, good for 5.7 yards per carry and five touchdowns. That production has the Seminoles graded inside Pro Football Focus’s Top 25 nationally in run blocking.
And at the center of it all is sophomore back Ousmane Kromah.
Kromah has turned 36 carries into 231 yards and two scores, averaging 6.4 yards per attempt. He opened with 115 yards against New Mexico State and followed that with 116 against SMU. The raw numbers jump out, but the deeper metrics show just how much damage he’s creating on his own.
His 84.6 rushing grade leads Florida State’s backs. He has 180 of his 231 yards after contact, forced 10 missed tackles and ripped off five runs of at least 10 yards. He also has 106 breakaway yards.
That kind of production doesn’t happen in a vacuum, though. The line in front of him has helped set the table.
Left tackle Xavier Chaplin has been Florida State’s top run blocker through two games, posting a 75.1 PFF grade across 73 run-blocking snaps. Andre Otto has a 69.0 grade, center Bradyn Welch-Joiner is at 68.6 and Chimdia Nwaiwu sits at 63.3.
Florida State has also shown it can find success in different run concepts. Kromah has 31 carries on zone concepts, and all 231 of his rushing yards have come on designed runs.
That’s a notable step forward from the opener. Against New Mexico State, Florida State averaged 5.6 yards per carry overall, but the interior run game lagged behind the rest of the attack. The Seminoles averaged just 3.4 yards on 15 attempts inside the tackles, compared to 9.4 yards on 16 carries outside.
There’s still a bigger issue hanging over the offensive line, though. Florida State has been much more effective opening lanes for Kromah than protecting quarterback Ashton Daniels, and Norvell has already shuffled things up front while trying to settle on his best five. Alabama will raise the difficulty level again.
That’s why Saturday matters so much for a Florida State team coming off a 27-24 loss to SMU.
“It doesn’t change my perspective on my belief for this football team,” Norvell said. “We just have to be better.”
If the Seminoles are going to be better against Alabama, the blueprint is already on film. Last year they didn’t out-scheme the Crimson Tide. They ran straight through them.
And now Kromah gives Florida State a centerpiece with enough vision, balance and burst to make that formula even more dangerous.
In Other News...
Mike Norvells Future Just Got More Uncomfortable For Florida State Fans
Public pressure around coaching searches has a way of spilling far beyond the sideline, and Mike Norvell is the latest Florida State coach finding his personal space pulled into the conversation. With speculation about his future already hanging over the program, even something as ordinary as a box truck at his residence becomes part of the surrounding noise, another example of how closely the sport watches coaches when their standing starts to wobble.
Florida State fans have seen this kind of scrutiny before, and college football keeps proving that a coachs job security can become a public spectacle long before any official decision is made. The attention does not stop with football, either, as similar media fascination shows up in basketball and other sports whenever uncertainty builds, which is exactly why every small detail around Norvell now feels bigger than it ought to be. [Read more 🡒]
Florida States 2027 Schedule Just Changed The Mike Norvell Debate
The ACCs release of its 2027 football conference opponents gave Florida State a clearer look at the road ahead, and on paper it shapes up as a manageable slate. The Seminoles are set to host Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami and Stanford, while visiting Cal, Clemson, North Carolina and Syracuse, with the league again scheduling nine conference games and five of them in Tallahassee. Florida State also already has non-conference games lined up against Florida and ETSU, leaving one more out-of-league slot to fill.
Compared with the tougher look of 2026, the 2027 setup stands out as the kind of schedule that can matter when the conversation turns to Mike Norvells future. Florida State will still have to deal with Clemson on the road and Miami coming to town, but the overall balance of the league slate gives the Seminoles a better chance to build momentum, and perhaps a better backdrop for the debate over where the program is headed under Norvell. [Read more 🡒]
Florida State's Mike Norvell Reality Just Got More Complicated
Florida States football turbulence is now tied to a much bigger reset inside the athletic department. University leadership is putting the focus on restructuring the whole operation and strengthening revenue generation and business functions, rather than rushing into a quick verdict on Mike Norvell. For now, the preferred approach is to let the season play out while the administration sorts through how it wants the department to look moving forward.
The timing leaves Norvell in a familiar but uneasy spot, with fan frustration still simmering after the recent losses. Florida State is also preparing to redefine the athletic director role around business expertise and a broader organizational overhaul before naming a successor to the recently dismissed AD, which means the football decision is unfolding inside a larger administrative rewrite. In other words, the coachs future is still very much in play, but it is no longer the only issue driving the conversation. [Read more 🡒]