At the beginning of the 2025 college football season, many expected this year’s game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Florida State Seminoles to be uneventful. Most assumed Alabama would cruise to victory in their season opener, even as visitors against a program once considered a blue blood. Yet, as the final seconds ticked away and the dust settled, waves of FSU faithful stormed the field at Doak Campbell Stadium, celebrating one of the craziest upsets of the entire season. Florida State had just upset #8 Alabama in Tallahassee. But how?

Following the 2024 season, expectations for both programs differed wildly. Florida State had gone from being ranked #10 in the Associated Press’ Preseason Top 25 to finishing with a 2-10 record in the regular season. Their only wins? Atlantic Coast Conference newcomer California and FCS Charleston Southern. This was the program’s worst regular season since 1974 and scrutiny immediately fell on head coach Mike Norvell, who suffered a contract reduction as a result of the poor performance in that season. 

Changes immediately arrived in the structure of Norvell’s coaching staff, bringing in names such as former Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn at offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator Tony White, who had previously coached at Nebraska at the same position. Even with the changes in the coaching staff, along with a new recruiting class, many did not expect Florida State to make the 12-team College Football Playoffs or even a bowl game. 

Alabama, meanwhile, was undergoing a rebuilding process after the retirement of longtime head coach Nick Saban. The Crimson Tide pivoted to former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer as their new head coach. DeBoer had previously led Washington to a national championship appearance in 2023, the Huskies’ last season in the Pac-12 Conference. In DeBoer’s inaugural season at Alabama, the team went 9-4 in 2024 and was marked by notable losses to Tennessee, Vanderbilt (their first loss to the Commodores in 40 years), Oklahoma (who finished the season 6-7), and Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

While still a good regular season, to some Alabama fans, this was a notable downgrade from the double-digit winning seasons that were regular under Saban, not to mention that they were snubbed from the playoffs. Nevertheless, DeBoer and Alabama had high hopes going into 2025, with the aim of returning to the College Football Playoffs.

Preceding the game, Alabama was ranked #8 in the AP Preseason Top 25, with aforementioned high aspirations to enter the playoffs, even with some uncertainty about DeBoer’s capabilities as head coach. Meanwhile, Florida State simply prepared as best and as strongly as they could to take on the Crimson Tide at home. Quarterback Tommy Castellanos, transferring in from Boston College, made a notable comment to On3 Sports in regards to the Week 1 matchup, stating in regards to Alabama that “They don’t have Nick Saban to save them. I just don’t see them stopping me.”

Saban himself responded lightheartedly to the comment on College Gameday. Also on College Gameday, Lee Corso, in his last appearance on the program, chose Florida State, his alma mater, to pull off an upset, which many found odd. Both Corso’s choice and Castellanos’ comment would prove prophetic.

Week 1 arrived, and with that, Alabama’s presumed easy win over Florida State, who many presumed would not even be able to pose a threat to the Alabama offense, led by new starting quarterback Ty Simpson. Indeed, Simpson was able to pose a considerable threat with his passing ability, completing 23 of 43 passes, 2 touchdowns, and racking up 254 passing yards throughout the game, surpassing Castellanos’ 152. It was in the run game where Florida State held the edge, and managed to beat back Alabama; Castellanos himself led the charge (literally and figuratively) with 78 rushing yards, including a touchdown of his own. Florida State sealed the fate of the game early in the second half, up 10-24 midway through the 3rd quarter, and though Alabama responded in kind with a touchdown, it was not enough, and the final score of the game ended up at 17-31 in favor of Florida State. The Seminoles had claimed victory.

This was Mike Norvell’s first victory over a ranked opponent since 2023, and, in the aftermath of the upset, fans took to storming the field in celebration of their victory. The field storming incident garnered FSU a $50,000 fine from the ACC for violating security policy. On the other sideline, Kalen DeBoer faced a large amount of scrutiny for losing the season opener for the first time since 2001 when they lost to UCLA. Many Alabama fans even called for his firing. The volatile nature of the upset reverberated in more than just fan reaction. The AP Poll for Week 2 of the season listed Florida State as ranked #14, their first Top 15 ranking since the beginning of the 2024 season. Alabama, meanwhile, dropped 13 spots to become ranked #21. Florida State would themselves suffer a stunning upset to the Virginia Cavaliers in Week 5 as the #8 team in the nation, along with a loss to the #3 Miami Hurricanes the following week while ranked at #18.

Florida State currently sits at #25 in the AP Poll as of Week 7, with Alabama ranked #8. Florida State plays Pittsburgh at home on October 11th. Alabama plays at #14 Missouri on October 11th as well.

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