Alabama

2025 FSU Schedule Preview: Alabama Crimson Tide

Published

9 months ago

June 12, 2025

2025 FSU Schedule Preview: Alabama Crimson Tide

With the countdown to the 2025 Florida State season in full swing, we’re previewing the Seminoles’ schedule game-by-game. First up, the Seminoles’ season opener vs. Alabama.

It was seven years ago that Florida State and the Alabama Crimson Tide met in Atlanta — the former looking to prolong its dominant run, the latter looking to get back to one.

Spoiler alert: the first happened, the second did not.

The 2017 matchup is seen by many as the one that got away, with a no-call on pass interference preventing a touchdown and lead change for Florida State with 10 seconds left before halftime. On the next play, Ricky Aguayo’s potential game-tying field goal was blocked and the Seminoles wouldn’t come close to scoring again. Alabama blocked a punt, recovered an FSU fumble on the ensuing kickoff and essentially called game at the end of the third. And then, with the game out of reach, quarterback Deondre Francois was lost for the season after rupturing the patellar tendon in his left knee.

While it would be disingenuous to suggest that the outcome of the game (a 24-7 Florida State loss) is what led to the downfall of one of the more successful programs of the early 2010s, it is fair to say that it was the beginning — the first in a series of major setbacks that would compound to create the hole the Seminoles have been able to escape for just two 10-plus win seasons since (2022 and 2023).

Enter 2025, where both programs are looking for an early-season boost to erase the memories of a down year which for Alabama, meant a historic upset loss to Vanderbilt and an inability to sneak its way into the playoffs at the expense of a more deserving team for the second straight season.

The Seminoles enter into the matchup hoping to change the narrative around the program and, more broadly, the one around Mike Norvell’s tenure. While the singular result of the game, like 2017, won’t necessarily impact the full trajectory of either, it might very well be an indicator of just where things might end up.

Florida State vs. Alabama

Date: Saturday, Aug. 30, 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC)

Location: Tallahassee, Florida

Previous matchup: 24-7, Alabama (Atlanta)

All-time series: 3-1-1, Alabama leads

Alabama: 2025 Team Preview

2024 record: 9-4 (5-3 SEC), lost to Michigan in Reliaquest Bowl

Two things to know:

After the offense sputtered in several games last season, Alabama brought in Ryan Grubb as its new offensive coordinator. Grubb has worked under Kalen DeBoer in some capacity for 12 of the last 16 years — most recently, as his offensive coordinator with the Washington Huskies.
Alabama is in its second year of running a 4-2-5 defensive scheme, a switch from the 3-4 days under Nick Saban, which aims to cut down spread offenses, eliminate overthinking and emphasize aggressiveness. A great breakdown via the Roll Tide Bama message boards:

The 4-2-5 Swarm defense Kane Wommack runs is an evolution from the 4-2-5 version that his dad Dave Wommack ran (and helped design) during his long coaching career (he retired after the 2016 season as the Ole Miss defensive coordinator under Hugh Freeze). If you want to get real technical, you could call it a 3-3-5 defense, but it’s pointless getting lost in the numbers of it either way. A basic note on this defense which will aid in understanding other parts of it, is the defensive alignment isn’t based on formation (where the TE lines up, for example), it’s based on the field and the boundary (sideline). One advantage of that is, if a player goes into motion and flips the “strong” side, the defense doesn’t have to make as many adjustments, since the strong side isn’t determined by alignment (though there will be some occasions when this defense will revert to the more traditional way and base it off the offensive formation such as the TE or WR alignment).
By design, this defense is less about containment and more about trying to create havoc in the offensive backfield. Sacks are great, but Saban used to preach, affecting the QB is just as important… This defense sets out to affect things behind the LOS, which often leads to positive things by other means.
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It will have issues and occasional breakdowns. The aggressive nature alone will lend itself to the propensity to give up big plays at times. Teams with good QB play will get hot some games and move the chains at a frustrating pace.

Three key players

Quarterback Ty Simpson: The presumed front-runner for the starting quarterback spot, Simpson is a former five-star recruit who has patiently waited for his turn under center — making him a unicorn in the modern age of college football. He’s thrown just 39 passes over three seasons with Alabama, arguably his most notable appearance coming as he relieved a struggling Tyler Buchner (starting in place of the benched Jalen Milroe) vs. USF in 2023, securing the win with a late touchdown run to make it 17-3.

Wide receiver Ryan Williams: Perpetrator of one of the more athletic plays seen in recent memory, Williams established himself as an offensive threat early for Alabama — despite being just 17 years old, as you might remember hearing often last season. His true freshman season saw him put together a 865-yard, 48-catch and eight-touchdown campaign, worthy enough to earn first-team All-SEC honors and establish him as one of the country’s most hyped receivers entering 2025.

EDGE LT Overton: A projected round two selection, Overton opted to return to Alabama for his senior season. In 2024, he racked up 42 tackles, two sacks, one pass breakup, one fumble recovery, and one forced fumble. A versatile athlete, he lines up in the Bandit (hybrid lineman/edge rusher) role.

Florida State vs. Alabama: Game preview, predictions

Best Case

Narratives (outside of those levied by the most optimistic of FSU fans and most spiteful of Alabama haters) are shattered as Florida State pulls off just its second-ever win vs. Alabama. Tommy Castellanos, comfortable in the offensive attack that welcomed him into the collegiate ranks, shines in his debut as new-look schemes on each side of the ball work their magic. The reason Ty Simpson failed to make a single start in three seasons with the Crimson Tide becomes obvious as multiple interceptions force DeBoer to turn to true freshman Keelon Russell.

Realistic Case

Florida State comes out swinging, utilizing enough scouting and well-timed trickery to make things interesting early and keep them that way well into the third quarter. In the end, though, the game plays out similarly to FSU’s 2022 opener vs. Notre Dame where the Seminoles lack the final oomph to pull off the upset. The moral victory satiates the desire for competent football and, unlike 2022, Florida State carries that momentum into the following week’s matchup vs. an FCS program.

Worst Case

Pain upon pain upon pain. The 2024 season isn’t in the rearview, it is still alive and well, and the first example of it is a blowout at the hands of the Crimson Tide in the first game inside a newly-renovated Doak Campbell Stadium. The Seminoles get a paltry, pity field goal towards the end of the game to prevent a blowout and the tone of the season gets set in a terrible way.

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Most likely outcome vs. Alabama?

2025 FSU football schedule

Saturday, Aug. 30: Alabama Crimson Tide (Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee)

Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Channel: ABC

Saturday, Sep. 6: East Texas A&M Lions (Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee)

Time: 12 p.m. ET
Channel: ACC Network

Saturday, Sep. 13: BYE

Saturday, Sep. 20: Kent State Golden Flashes (Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee)

Friday, Sep. 26: Virginia Cavaliers (Scott Stadium, Charlottesville)

Time: 7 p.m.
Channel: ESPN

Saturday, Oct. 4: Miami Hurricanes (Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee)

Saturday, Oct. 11: Pitt Panthers (Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee)

Saturday, Oct. 18: Stanford Cardinal (Stanford Stadium, Stanford)

Time: 10:30 p.m.
Channel: ESPN

Saturday, Oct. 25: BYE

Saturday, Nov. 1: Wake Forest Demon Deacons (Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee)

Saturday, Nov. 8: Clemson Tigers (Memorial Stadium, Clemson)

Saturday, Nov. 15: Virginia Tech Hokies (Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee)

Friday, Nov. 21: NC State Wolfpack (Carter-Finley Stadium, Raleigh)

Time: 8 p.m.
Channel: ESPN

Saturday, Nov. 29: Florida Gators (Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville)

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Alabama

Alabama wipes out early deficit to oust Hofstra 90-70 in Midwest Region

Published

12 hours ago

March 20, 2026

Press Room

Alabama wipes out early deficit to oust Hofstra 90-70 in Midwest Region

Labaron Philon Jr. finished with 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and No. 4 seed Alabama rallied from an early double-digit deficit to beat 13th-seeded Hofstra 90-70 in a first-round game in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

The Crimson Tide (24-9) advanced to a second-round matchup against fifth-seeded Texas Tech (23-10), a 20-point winner over 12th-seeded Akron in the earlier first-round game at Benchmark International Arena.

Alabama ended the opening half on a 19-7 run to wipe out a 10-point deficit, then built its own lead to 13 before Hofstra (24-11) mounted one last push for a possible upset.

“We focused on just getting stops and pushing our pace. You know they were trying to slow the game down. You could see that in the second half,” Philon said. “Our pace kind of broke them down a little bit and we just started running.”

Freshman Preston Edmead had 24 points for the Pride, and his 3-point basket pulled the Pride within 67-62 with just over seven minutes remaining. Victory Onuetu’s dunk trimmed Alabama’s lead to 69-64 and ignited much of a crowd of 17,769 that threw its support behind the underdogs.

Philon was simply too much down the stretch, though, delivering a layup and a long 3-pointer during a surge that enabled Alabama to rebuild the lead to double digits. Taylor Bol Bowen put an exclamation point on the Crimson Tide response with two dunks and a 3-pointer as the lead ballooned to 20.

“Hofstra is a team that’s been on a big winning streak,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “They came in expecting to win and you could tell that. I think they got frustrated late.”

Alabama played without star guard Aden Holloway, who was suspended indefinitely following an arrest on a felony drug charge. In the absence of the team’s second-leading scorer, Aiden Sherrell, Latrell Wrightsell Jr and Amari Allen stepped up in support of Philon, who had 21 points after halftime.

Hofstra was in the tournament for the first time since 2001, the year after NBA champion and current coach Speedy Claxton helped the school located in Hempstead, New York land a spot in March Madness. The Pride also earned a berth in 2020, but that year’s NCAA Tournament was canceled because of the pandemic.

“Proud of my guys’ effort,” Claxton said. “It’s kind of tough to win a game when you give up 17 offensive rebounds. For a team like us in a tournament like this, we pretty much have to play perfect basketball, and we didn’t do that.”

Taking up the slack

Sherrell had 15 points and 15 rebounds. Wrightsell and Allen each added 11 points.

“I try to get guys involved. I ended up with like seven assists,” Philon said. “I was mainly focused on getting the ball out of my hands when I needed to and getting it back if I needed to.”

Cruz Davis scored 14 points and German Plotnikov had 11 for Hofstra.

Off the mark

Alabama rolled despite missing 13 of its first 16 3-points attempts and going 12 of 36 beyond the arc overall. Philon scored 21 of his 29 in the second half. He finished 10 of 18 from the field, including 3 of 7 on 3-pointers.

Winless

Hofstra fell to 0-5 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The Pride also lost in the first round in 1976, 1977, 2000 and 2001.

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Alabama

Sydney Benally’s record-setting night carries BYU to blowout win over Alabama A&M in WBIT first round

Published

24 hours ago

March 20, 2026

Press Room

Sydney Benally’s record-setting night carries BYU to blowout win over Alabama A&M in WBIT first round

The BYU men’s basketball team could have used Sydney Benally in its NCAA Tournament first-round matchup against Texas Thursday night.

Lee Cummard’s squad was happy she was in Provo and not Portland, though.

Benally tied her career high with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and set the BYU freshman record for assists in a season in leading the Cougars to a 72-47 win over Alabama A&M at the Marriott Center in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.

“I think we came in as a team, just we wanted to prove that we deserve to continue playing in this postseason,” Benally said in a postgame interview on BYU Radio.

“We just have that mentality to just keep playing hard and keep playing for each other.”

With the win, the Cougars (23-11) will host a second-round WBIT game against Missouri next Monday (7 p.m. MDT, ESPN+). The Tigers beat Seton Hall Thursday to advance.

BYU, which was the first team on the outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble, didn’t let the disappointment of missing the NCAAs impact how it started its WBIT opener.

Even though the Cougars hadn’t played for two weeks since a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal loss to TCU, they got out to a 12-4 lead against Alabama A&M and were up 20-13 after one period.

Cummard, BYU’s first-year coach, said he was worried about the psychological aspect of it, having just missed the NCAAs, but his team “was focused” from the jump.

“We just wanted to really come out strong, and I think that now that we’re in this thing, the juices are flowing and we’re ready to go,” Cummard said on BYU Radio.

“They showed that tonight and just the overall effort, (we) did some really good things to start and just kind of kept it going the whole game.”

That start set the tone, as the Cougars outscored the Bulldogs in every quarter, including a combined 36-20 in the second and third quarters as they pulled away.

While it wasn’t a perfect night — for instance, BYU turned the ball over 17 times — the Cougars had the advantage in a majority of categories.

BYU outrebounded the Bulldogs 49-32, shot 46.9% from the field while holding Alabama A&M to 29.6% and doubled up the visitors 8-4 on 3-pointers made.

The Cougars also dominated in fast break points, 16-2.

Benally’s efforts led the way on a night BYU had four players in double-figures. She added five assists, three rebounds and two steals.

“She got us started right from the get-go. She’s always a really decisive passer and makes great passes and did that again tonight,” Cummard said of Benally.

“But the confidence and the assertiveness that she was shooting the 3 ball with tonight really got us going, got her going and just got us off to a great start and (we) rode her for a little bit and then everybody got on board.”

When Benally assisted a Brinley Cannon 3 just 3:24 into the game, she set the freshman assists record, passing Shaylee Gonzales’ former record of 134.

“It’s thanks to my teammates. They get open and they knock down the shot and (it) shows that I’m an unselfish basketball player,” Benally said.

“… I just want anything for the win. I look to see my teammates first.”

With her five assists Thursday, Benally stands at 139 on the year and is primed to add to that total as long as BYU’s postseason run lasts.

The guard also set another freshman record with her 34th start of the season.

“Availability (is) such a huge thing and she’s just been great,” Cummard said, while adding Benally has been playing through injury for most of the season.

“She’s great for the group and I’m glad that she’s done that and she played fantastic tonight.”

In addition to Benally’s record-setting night, senior forward Lara Rohkohl added 13 points, five rebounds, two blocks, an assist and a steal.

Also, guards Delaney Gibb (11 points, eight rebounds, three assists, one block, one steal) and Olivia Hamlin (10 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals) made contributions across the board.

Having an extra home game lent itself to a special moment for senior Hattie Ogden as well. After she didn’t score on Senior Night in BYU’s home finale at the end of February, Ogden hit two fourth-quarter 3-pointers, which was met with adulation from the crowd.

Alabama A&M (22-11) was led by Kalia Walker, an HBCU first team All-American. She had 20 points, two rebounds and a steal in the loss.

Now, the focus for BYU turns to Missouri and a rare opportunity to host an SEC team.

“I think just again, (we’re) blessed to continue playing on our home floor, just having the home advantage and having our community come support us,” Benally said.

“Again, we’re just excited to keep on moving in this tournament.”

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Alabama

Man convicted of murder for 2019 death of Alabama college student Aniah Blanchard

Published

1 day ago

March 19, 2026

Press Room

TUSKEGEE, Ala. — A man was convicted of murder in the 2019 death of Alabama college student Aniah Blanchard, whose disappearance drew national attention, but the jury spared him a possible death sentence Thursday.

Jurors found Ibraheem Yazeed, 36, guilty of murdering 19-year-old Blanchard. Jurors convicted Yazeed of the lesser charges of murder and felony murder instead of capital murder, an offense that would have carried a possible death sentence

Blanchard, the stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris, was last seen Oct. 23, 2019, at a gas station in Auburn. Her body was found a month later in a wooded area in neighboring Macon County. She was a student at Southern Union Community College.

The case inspired two changes to Alabama law. Under what was named Aniah’s Law, judges were given more discretion to deny bond to people accused of violent crimes. Yazeed was out on bond at the time of Blanchard’s disappearance.

Gov. Kay Ivey also signed legislation last year to allow visiting judges to handle violent criminal cases to get them to trial more quickly. The legislation was approved after the murder case languished for several years without a trial.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said he was disappointed the Yazeed will not face a possible death sentence but will seek a life sentence for him

“I pledge to do everything in my power to ensure that Ibraheem Yazeed spends the rest of his life in prison. I believe that is what justice demands in this case. Aniah deserves it, as does her family,” Marshall said.

Defense attorney William Whatley told reporters that the case has been plagued with false information and misstatements “rising to almost the level of a lynch mob to get Mr. Yazeed on this capital murder charge.”

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