When Alabama’s season opener against Florida State ends Saturday, one team will have flipped the script following a disappointing year that led to speculation its program is on the decline; the other will have picked up another bitterly disappointing loss that will erase the summer talk of revitalization — and both teams could end up in either spot.
While the disappointment would be palpable for both teams, the reasons for that disappointment and the stakes they face are vastly different.
Florida State wants to prove it remains a premier program in college football that can compete against top teams. The season opener against Alabama will be the first of four games the Seminoles will play against teams ranked in the preseason top 15 after losing its three games against ranked teams by an average of 29 points in 2024.
“I’m disappointed in it, but you don’t get caught up dwelling on the things that happened,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell told News4JAX in May about his team’s previous season. “The guys that are young that have grown have really established themselves in new roles and then what it is to be a Florida State Seminole.”
That returned confidence in the team’s identity will be vital to a program that has been absent from discourse about national title contention.
Seminole quarterback Tommy Castellanos has done his part in trying to revive team spirit, instigating the first instance of trash talk between the teams prior to the Aug. 30 matchup.
“They don’t have Nick Saban to save them,” Castellanos said of Alabama at ACC Media Days in June. “I just don’t see them stopping me.”
Alabama found its disappointment last season in barely falling outside of the first 12-team college football playoff. The 2024 season marked the first single-digit win season for the Crimson Tide since Saban’s first year in 2007 and included losses to three unranked teams in Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Michigan.
Unlike FSU, Alabama doesn’t need to prove that it is still one of the best programs in the country.
The Crimson Tide saw 62 players leave for new schools between the 2024 and 2025 transfer windows. Returning to the college football playoffs will be vital for engendering confidence among the players that Alabama is still a perennial title contender.
“I want to play competitive games,” DeBoer said in December after Alabama was left out of the playoff picture. “We want to play in the best games. I understand how it didn’t feel like that.”
The season opener in Tallahassee, although in an intense environment, will be largely viewed as one such game with a wide talent discrepancy. The Crimson Tide are 13.5-point favorites on the road, and the team should be as motivated as ever to prove that it remains among the college football elite.
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