Three Stars: Alabama-FSU devolves into a shootout, as Keelon Russell grows up in front of our eyes.

What is it about FSU that makes Alabama look helpless defensively?

Last week gave us a ‘Bama 34-0 run to ice the game away in Lexington. On a wretched hot September afternoon, in a game delayed and halted by distant lightning on several occasions, the Tide gave us an encore: Down one time 21-6, they would then rattle off a 44-7 run en route to an ugly, unsatisfying 50-36 victory.

If you like shutdown corners, smart play in the secondary, manufacturing opportunities at the line of scrimmage, then ‘Bama-Florida State was not for you. Closer to a vintage WAC game than anything these two proud storied teams should ever field, both staffs leave with some positives to build off of, and more than enough negatives to keep Norvell and DeBoer sleepless for weeks to come.

Win: Keelon Russell.

In Friday’s Gump Dump, and our game preview, we suggested that FSU’s secondary would prove too tempting a target for Ryan Grubb to pass by — this could be Keelon’s breakout game.

That was so obvious that you can’t even call it prophetic. And on a day where the defense was bound and determined to make their own lives miserable, Russell put this team on his back and delivered. Today, we saw him grow up and take the first steps into becoming a difference maker and a star.

It wasn’t just the scores, or the volume passing, it was the accuracy, smart decision-making, and protecting the football. With six minutes left in the game, Russell had connected on 81% of his throws. And after a bad week of ball security against the Wildcats, where he fumbled twice losing one, and threw two interceptions, Russell rebounded Saturday: He only took one sack, did not fumble at all and did not throw a pick despite FSU blitzing relentlessly. He saw downfield better, and made smarter, faster decisions. All of those things that you expect to come with experience started assembling themselves before your eyes into the Keelon we hope to see far more of.

Bravo.

Place: Resilience

Last season, the Crimson Tide were determined to be the cardiac kids, taking nearly every game to the last minute. Seems like 2026 ‘Bama has learned that lesson and wish to avoid it. No, instead Alabama has decided to demoralize its fans early, with ghastly slow bad starts, falling into double-digit holes, and a defense that doesn’t even look like it practiced. Then, the caul is be ripped off their eyes, the offense finds urgency, and the defense suddenly finds itself playing its assignments and actually executing. The result the past two weeks has been basketball-type runs by the Tide that have to scare future opponents: 34-0 last week, 44-7 this week.

That speaks to a lot of maturity, leaders stepping up, coaches adjusting and getting everyone focused, and a helluva lot of talent. In particular, the offensive line seems to find a second gear, blasting opponents off the line and giving Russell pockets so peaceful that he could take a nap back there. And they just get better the longer the game wears on. And the wide outs, man, they have been reborn — this group has been absolute fiends downfield blocking; you could especially tell when the Tide running backs got to the edge and on RCW1’s seemingly harmless swing pass that went for a 46-yard score:

The problem, of course, is that we don’t want Alabama to be complacent, to count on being able to just flip the switch and turn it on. Your opponent has something to say about that. And, looking ahead to the schedule, teams like Georgia may not be so accommodating nor become quite so demoralized once the Tide starts rolling.

You can praise the jaw-dropping explosiveness of this team, the seeming ability to just make a play when it needs one and still recognize that this is not the way to play if you want to win championships.

Show: Norvell’s Bye Week preparation

For an alleged dead man walking, Mike Norvell sure didn’t look like it. The Seminoles did not waste their bye week either. As the Tide was gritting out an SEC road trip against surprisingly-competent Kentucky, FSU was seemingly diagnosing every look that Kane Wommack has put on film the last three seasons, and finding the perfect way to attack it: From getting Kromah loose on the outside, to nestling into those spaces in the zone, to running pressures at Alabama’s new linemen, the ‘Noles weren’t surprised by anything Alabama was trying to do, nor were they without weapons of their own to attack it.

And, no matter how much the momentum swung, and how often, FSU never lost composure or quit. They were still punching with three minutes left in the ball game, and at one point in the fourth had pulled within a touchdown.

That was not a poorly-prepared or badly coached team. That was not a team with quit in them. That was not a team that came into BDS knowing they would lose. To the contrary, they were anything but. One day Alabama is going to run into a squad with that level of preparation and more talent — and those ferocious comebacks are going to come up short.

But on this day, you have to hand Mike Norvell his flowers. Florida State looked a helluva lot like an FSU team should look for vast stretches of this one. It may not be enough to save his job, but people writing obituaries for the Seminoles may be premature — this team can rebound and still make an ACC title game appearance…once they do something about that secondary.

You never turn your nose up at a win, especially against a team with as much firepower as the Seminoles. But let’s not kid ourselves either, that was no way to play a ballgame on defense, and there’s very little you want to take away from it other than ways for Wommack’s group to improve. Not every team is going to have a Duce Robinson…but several will, and they’ll have a lot better trigger-man than Ashton Daniels

And for my part, I’d just as soon we never play Florida State again. Going back to 2007, these games have seemingly brought out the worst of Alabama, because as it turns out, your opponent has a lot to say in the matter.

At least DeBoer knows it and wasn’t happy about a lot he saw on Saturday.

Roll Tide