For the second straight week, the Alabama Crimson Tide had to a rough start before the offense came to life and exploded. The Tide overcame an early 15-point deficit -- and Mother Nature -- to beat the Florida State Seminoles, 50-36, at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.
Alabama (3-0), which was No. 10 in the US LBM Coaches Poll entering Sunday, had to wait out a weather delay that pushed its scheduled 2:30 p.m. CT start time back to 4:15. The Tide fell behind, 21-6, as Florida State (1-2) quarterback Ashton Daniels led the Seminoles on three touchdown drives on his team's first four series.
Alabama's offense, led by first-year starting quarterback Keelon Russell, had its own response.
Russell threw three touchdown passes in the final three minutes
of the first half to put the Crimson Tide ahead, 26-21, at halftime. While Florida State briefly retook the lead, Alabama would score points on each of its last nine possessions overall en route to the win.
Russell completed 23 of his 30 passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns, plus another score on a 57-yard run late in the third quarter. Alabama wouldn't trail again, even if the Tide never outright buried the Seminoles. Bray Hubbard's interception with 1:10 remaining officially ended any last hope for the Seminoles.
Alabama finished with 567 yards of total offense while FSU countered with 471 yards. The Crimson Tide rushed for 6.9 yards per carry and had 247 rushing yards total. Freshman Trae'shawn Brown led the way with 86 yards and a touchdown. Both five-star freshman EJ Crowell and junior Daniel Hill rushed for over 50 yards apiece. Conor Talty made three clutch field goals for the second straight week in helping Alabama secure the win.
After the game, Florida State coach Mike Norvell met with reporters to discuss his team's loss to the Crimson Tide. Here's what the Seminoles' coach said:
Mike Norvell reflects on Florida State loss to Alabama football
"First off, congratulations to Alabama. For the second week in a row, they showed a really good response as a football team and how they were able to overcome just different elements of the game. I thought our guys came out and played really well there early. Definitely we were aggressive in our mindset and approach, all the things we wanted to do to just go out and play at a level we know we're capable of playing at.
"I know with the delays and all the things that happened throughout the course of the game, I thought our guys handled that well early. Obviously not as well coming out from what became the halftime break. Obviously, the big plays there with Alabama surrounding that and us missing a couple of opportunities there, that was a big kind of swing and momentum. But I still saw some times during the third quarter, seeing the response and getting it back to a one-score game. Being in a position where our guys had a chance to go win and unfortunately, we weren't able to get the stops there at the end.
"We had some missed opportunities on a couple of drives that we've got to have. When you come on the road in a hostile environment against a good football team, we've got to capitalize on those. We weren't able to create takeaways defensively and we had three turnovers. That's a big part of the game, but I thought our team battled really hard throughout. It was just unfortunately not enough plays to come out victorious."
Mike Norvell addresses outside noise that led into FSU's matchup against Alabama football
Florida State fired athletic director Michael Alford on Monday. Norvell entered 2026 on arguably the hottest of hot seats among any Power Four head coach. After the game, the Seminoles coach was asked by a reporter how he would keep the team together amid the outside noise over his future and that of the Florida State football program.
Norvell said:
"At the end of the day, this team really enjoys the work. They enjoy who they get to do it with. They enjoy the opportunity. There's been noise around the program for the last couple of years, and we're working to make sure that we stay focused on the things we can control, to be able to go and be the best that we can be. That's absolutely what I care about seeing: just for a 60-minute game just going to be able to put that on display."
Norvell added:
"I've continued to watch this team continue to pour into each other with noise around it, with all the stuff. At the end of the day, just focus on the same old things. Focus on what you can control. That's what you have to do. The rest of your life, people are going to say things about you. If you allow that to change who you are, change how you work, change the things that you are doing to be the best that you can, then it's not real. I believe in this team. I believe in who we are, in what we can do and what we can accomplish. This team in this moment, that's my focus.
"The winning seasons and the losing seasons throughout my coaching career, none of that affects this team. This team has to worry about ourselves. We've shown capability. We've got to show that we can go take the next step against good opponents in challenging situations and get the job done. That's what we're going to focus on, but I've not seen any pullback from this team."
Mike Norvell discusses the difference between Alabama and Florida State after weather delay
Play was halted with 2:36 remaining in the first half with Florida State leading, 21-13. The game resumed 32 minutes later at 7 p.m. Alabama dominated once play resumed. The Tide scored touchdowns on five consecutive series between the second and third quarter.
Norvell said:
"I mean, it's about a 20-point difference. So, it's a big part of it. You want to make sure that you can take each segment of the game. Yes, it's an important part of it. When you're at any point where it's 20 to nothing, there's going to be momentum. Even through that, we still got it to a two-point game there. We got it to a one-score game later. Those responses are the thing. You don't want to have any stretch where you get outscored 20 to nothing, whether that's in the very beginning of the game, the middle part, and definitely not at the end.
"We got stopped, had a turnover. (Alabama) had explosive plays, explosive touchdowns, short drives with big plays. It was an awful sequence in that game. Our guys still responded to have a chance to win it in the fourth quarter, but we didn't make enough plays in that sequence to be able to finish the job."
Mike Norvell explains why Alabama was able to run the ball so well after halftime
Alabama ran for 38 net yards in the first half before gashing the Seminoles for 220 after halftime. Norvell was asked by a reporter what changed as the game went on and whether Florida State was worn down by Alabama.
"There was an element to it late where we definitely got worn down. But there were a couple of times where we had the self-inflicted mishap of alignment (issues). You have a blitz supposed to be sent into and you don't, and there's big plays. No EDGE (rusher) shows up. And you give credit to (Alabama). They did a good job of getting guys blocked. The running backs ran really hard. Obviously, the quarterback on the scramble plays, you had a 60-yard gain that we've got to be able to try to get him down. Those are all critical moments.
"I thought we defended the run well early as you mentioned, but it was unfortunate to see where it went to. (Alabama) did some things getting into bigger personnels and were able to capture a couple of edges, or we had a missed tackle or like I said, a misalignment that you can't have."
Alabama pass defense did good job against FSU quarterback Ashton Daniels, Mike Norvell says
Despite Daniels throwing for 377 yards and two touchdowns, he also had three interceptions. Norvell said afterwards of Alabama's defense:
"They did a good job of just trying to mix some coverages and just a little bit of hesitation from a flash or a body or somebody that was working in front of him," Norvell said. "He's seeing the field well, but there's certainly some plays that we can continue to grow from."
Mike Norvell asked if he second-guesses himself after FSU loss to Alabama football
Norvell was specifically asked if he questioned himself about anything he might have done differently in the final minutes of the first half when Alabama began to make its run.
Here's his answer:
"The third down, that was one of those that you think through it and I think we might have had a false start penalty on that that took us back a little bit more. But (it's about) trying to find that balance. I think we had four straight drives or three of four straight drives of being very successful. Even in the last drive (of the first half), we got the ball back with 20 seconds and we hit an explosive play to get down and have a chance to be able to get the ball to the end zone.
"I mean, you go back and you reflect on all of it. Would it have been better not to give them the ball and they score in two plays or whatever it was? Yes, that would have been much better to avoid that, but ultimately you've got to work through the results and rise up and coach better, play better and be all that we can in those moments."
Watch Norvell's postgame press conference below.
Alabama football schedule 2026
All start times Central.
- Sept. 5: vs. East Carolina Pirates (W, 48-10)
- Sept. 12: at Kentucky Wildcats (W, 45-17)
- Sept. 19: vs. Florida State Seminoles (W, 50-36)
- Sept. 26: vs. South Carolina Gamecocks, 6 p.m., ESPN
- Oct. 3: at Mississippi State Bulldogs, early window
- Oct. 10: vs. Georgia Bulldogs, prime time
- Oct. 17: at Tennessee Volunteers, TBA
- Oct. 24: vs. Texas A&M Aggies, TBA
- Nov. 7: at LSU Tigers, TBA
- Nov. 14: at Vanderbilt Commodores, TBA
- Nov. 21: vs. Chattanooga Mocs, 1 p.m., SEC Network+
- Nov. 28: vs. Auburn Tigers, TBA
Record: 3-0 overall, 1-0 SEC.
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This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: What FSU coach Mike Norvell said about Alabama football after loss
