Tide Up, Tide Down From Alabama's 50-36 Win Over Florida State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – What a ride.

Alabama football’s 50-36 win over Florida State was a roller coaster from start to finish. From the slow-building tension of the pregame lightning delay, to the Florida State offense’s blazing start, to the second delay, to the Alabama offense’s end-of-half dominance, to an electric second half, this game was full of ups and downs.

So let’s explore them further in Tide Up, Tide Down, BamaCentral’s reactionary postgame series that evaluates some of the best and worst players, moments, and trends from Alabama’s season.

Tide Up: Keelon Russell

This one’s a no-brainer.

Russell was special on Saturday. Beginning with the third drive of the game, after two punts to start the day, through the final whistle, Russell was essentially flawless. The final numbers are eye-popping: 23-for-30, 320 passing yards, three touchdowns, a 199.3 rating, and 56 yards and a score on the ground. But they don’t tell the full story of how dominant he was.

To do that, we have to look no further than Russell’s final five snaps of the first half. Starting with the Crimson Tide on the FSU 21-yard line, Russell found Cederian Morgan for the freshman’s first career catch and touchdown. After the ensuing lightning delay, Alabama got the ball back about 40 seconds of game time later thanks to a Seminole three-and-out.

Russell got the ball back with 1:37 to go in the half, fully expecting to run a two-minute drill to try and get points before the half. Instead, he found Rico Scott for 17 yards to the sideline, and then hit Ryan Coleman-Williams for a 46-yard score.

Florida State’s offense sputtered again, and Russell got the ball back with 34 seconds to play. That was more than enough time for him to find Lotzeir Brooks for 40 yards and then Kaleb Edwards for a 16-yard score.

To summarize, over those five snaps, Russell went 5-for-5 with 140 yards (28 yards per completion) and three touchdowns. The sophomore was on cruise control in the second half. He kept the ball out of danger, took the yardage when it was there, and piloted the Alabama offense in a way that ensured there would be no room for a comeback.

This was exactly the kind of performance that got Russell the starting job.

Tide Up: Rico Scott

In a game where Brooks had a career-high 101 yards and Coleman-Williams ripped off another explosive touchdown, Scott may have been the one who made the biggest statement. First of all, that touchdown from Coleman-Williams, a 46-yard catch-and-run, only happens because of a perfect seal block from Scott.

Furthermore, the junior, whose career high entering the season was 37 receiving yards, has now cleared 40 in each of the last two games. His seven targets were second-most on the team, and his 48 yards were a new career-high and ranked third on the team, behind just Brooks and Coleman-Williams.

In a deep receiving corps, it’s inevitable that there are going to be talented players who simply don’t put up the numbers. Last year, Scott fell into that category. He was on the verge of transfering out of the program, and I’d bet he’s very glad he didn’t, because he is well on his way to a different fate this season.

Tide Up: Conor Talty

Talty was listed in this category following his week one performance against East Carolina, where he drained two field goals and set the tone for what could be a fresh start this season. Still, there was an element of ‘wait and see’ with last year’s beleaguered placekicker as it still seemed like it was only a matter of time until the misses started coming.

Well, we’ve waited. And we’ve seen nothing but perfection.

Talty walked into Lexington and made all three of his field goal attempts last weekend, and he one-upped himself against the Seminoles, again going three-for-three, with two of those makes over 40 yards.

Talty has now made 13 straight field goals going back to last season. Yes, he’s bound to miss at some point, but when the miss eventually occurs, it will be a surprise instead of an expectation. That alone is a testament to how far Talty has come.

Tide Down: The Entire Defense

The defense had looked entirely invincible through Alabama’s first two games, and it was inevitable that it would eventually come back down to earth a little bit. Still, it was quite jarring seeing such a dominant unit appear so helpless for much of that first half, as Florida State marched down the field for three touchdown drives of 65 yards or more over the game’s first 20 minutes.

The unit looked better in stretches of the second half as it settled in, but still had plenty to clean up. A lot of the mistakes made, from the blown coverages, to needing to burn a timeout due to having too many players on the field, to Ivan Taylor’s roughing the kicker on an FSU punt (which I am ascribing to the defense), will cause serious problems for Alabama against tougher opponents.

Some solace can be taken in the fact that, for the first time, this group has real, tangible film to learn from. They’d better make the most of the opportunity, because this group has work to do to earn the status of a nationally elite unit.

Tide Down: Third-Down Defense

The clearest area of struggle for Kane Wommack’s group came on third downs. The unit, which had allowed just one third-down conversion all season, let the Seminoles convert eight times. At one point, Florida State was 7-for-9, although the defense settled in and held them to 1-for-6 down the stretch.

Tying in to the previous point, there were just a number of lapses uncharacteristic of what this defense had been through the first two weeks. It will be a crucial week of practice as the group trie to shore up these issues before they cost the team.

Tide Down: AK Dear

A month ago, there was a near-consensus that Alabama’s run game would not reach its ceiling until Dear returned from his injury. After three games, the narrative couldn’t be more different. Daniel Hill has shattered expectations, with 210 yards and three touchdowns thus far. He’s gone over 5.0 yards per carry in each game, looking like a bona fide lead back.

Meanwhile, freshmen EJ Crowell and Trae’Shawn Brown have each found the end zone in every game. Between Brown regularly breaking off long runs and Crowell hurdling defenders with ease, the case could even be made that these two are actually Alabama’s two best running backs. Regardless, it is going to be difficult to take carries away from either of them.

All three backs finished over 50 yards against the Seminoles. Yes, credit needs to be given to the offensive line and tight ends, as well as Russell’s scrambling ability. It is easier to run on this year’s team than last year’s. But all three of these guys look very good. Dear is a talented player, but has he been Wally Pipped?

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/alabama as Tide Up, Tide Down From Alabama’s 50-36 Win Over Florida State.

This story was originally published September 19, 2026 at 11:40 PM.