TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Florida State made third-down conversions. The Seminoles also made third-down stops. They made clutch plays in pressure moments.

FSU enjoyed one of its best starts to a football game this year. And perhaps since the upset of Alabama to start the 2025 season, when the Seminoles led by 10 points at the half.

But the Seminoles couldn’t sustain the hot start, with No. 10 Alabama scoring 23 points in the second quarter en route to a 50-36 win over FSU. The Seminoles lost their 10th straight road game, a streak that extends to November 2023.

“I thought our guys came out and played really well there early,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said. “Definitely were aggressive in our mindset, approach, all things that we want to do just to go out and be able to play at a level that we know we’re capable of playing at.”

Keelon Russell had 320 yards, three touchdown passes and a 57-yard TD run through three quarters. A week after he tossed two interceptions and fumbled at Kentucky, Russell protected the ball well (no turnovers) and was accurate (23 of 30).

Alabama (3-0) scored on eight straight drives, including five straight touchdown drives: 75, 63, 56, 75 and 64 yards. The Crimson Tide had 27 first-half rushing yards before wearing FSU down and finishing with 295 rushing yards (8.2 yards per carry).

While Ashton Daniels passed for 377 yards, his first 300-yard game at FSU (1-2), he also had a trio of interceptions and finished 14 of 24 with touchdowns to Duce Robinson and Landen Thomas. Daniels also had a 6-yard TD run and a 2-point conversion run as FSU cut the Alabama lead to 43-36 with 7:27 left.

But his old, bad habits signaled poor decisions. The first interception was not very costly, resulting in a made field-goal attempt, but the second was costly, resulting in a touchdown. And the third came on a desperate, two-minute drill late in the game when he threw the ball over the middle.

“Can’t throw three picks. That’s the end of the story,” Daniels said. “That’s a non-negotiable, especially when you play a team that good.”

Robinson had six catches for 135 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown reception on FSU’s game-opening drive. Robinson had just five catches for 75 yards coming in, and on Saturday he got his first touchdown of 2026.

There were two lengthy lightning delays. FSU weathered the first one (pregame) quite well but didn’t seen to handle the shorter one (late second quarter) very well. FSU led 21-6 with 9:42 to halftime but the game quickly flipped with three Alabama touchdowns before halftime.

“Momentum works in wild ways,” Norvell said. “Momentum only affects the teams that allow it to it. There were times when we allowed and just didn’t respond the way we needed to respond with the things that we can control.”

But there were some positives within the loss.

The Seminoles were able to produce some chunk plays as 13 delivered 393 yards. Those plays gave FSU a majority of its 471 offensive yards.

After struggling on third downs (offense and defense) early in the season, FSU converted 7 of its first 9 opportunities before finishing 8 of 14. The defense held Alabama to 4 of 11 on third downs (and 2 of 2 on fourth downs) until the Crimson Tide broke the game open. Alabama also converted a pair of fourth-down plays.

Ousmane Kromah had 17 tough carries for 80 yards. Samuel Singleton Jr. had just four caries for seven yards but he broke tackles on a long 65-yard catch-and-run.

There were enough encouraging moments after two lackluster games for FSU. But there wasn’t enough magic to stun Alabama for a second straight year as the Crimson Tide won at home against an unranked team for the 90th straight time (a streak that dates to Nick Saban’s first season in 2007).

It was FSU’s first trip to Alabama since 1974. And it will likely be the last to an SEC school, aside from Florida, for the near future as leagues have shifted to nine-game conference schedules.

Coming up

FSU will play host to Central Arkansas, Mike Norvell’s alma mater, on Saturday at 3 p.m. (ACC Network). The Seminoles will then begin a long run of ACC games when they host Virginia on Oct. 3.

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