Alabama now leads the all-time series against Florida State 4-2-1 after a 50-36 win on September 19. The Noles had taken the last meeting 31-17 in Tallahassee in 2025. Kalen DeBoer got his revenge. However, a late first-half weather stoppage later became part of the talk after the game.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Danny Kanell played quarterback at Florida State from 1992 to 1995 and now works as a CBS Sports college football analyst and radio host. On September 20, he questioned the lightning delay in Tuscaloosa.
“Sources told me the weather “was actually pretty nice,” Kanell wrote on X. “Surely they didn’t try to bail out Bama who was on the ropes vs the Noles??? That would never happen right?” he further asked.
It’s not like FSU fans don’t have enough on their plates when it comes to Alabama. In 2023, the Tide controversially got to the CFP, while an undefeated Florida State was kept out by the committee. That doesn’t mean Kanell’s question has any substance. His tweet was followed by a correction by X users, which provided context for what exactly happened during the delay.
NCAA rules call for a 30-minute pause that resets with every new strike. There had already been a pregame delay of about one hour and 45 minutes. Official Alabama records list the second delay at 34 minutes.
Storms, rain, and lightning were reported around Tuscaloosa. Front Office Sports quoted an Alabama spokesperson saying the call involved the event-management team, local weather experts, and the athletic director. The same NCAA eight-mile rule applied to other games that day, including North Carolina-Clemson.
On the same afternoon, Clemson trailed North Carolina when a 2.5-hour lightning delay hit late in the fourth quarter. Clemson came back and won 28-20. A week earlier, Wyoming trailed Northern Colorado 13-7 when a 40-minute delay arrived. Coach Jay Sawvel said the stoppage let his team reset. Wyoming won 21-13.
It’s for Mike Norvell to figure out why his team lost the momentum after the delay. Florida State looked brilliant for most of the first half. Ashton Daniels hit Duce Robinson for a 20-yard touchdown on the opening drive. Then, Alabama answered with a field goal. Ousmane Kromah then scored on a 12-yard run, and another Alabama field goal followed. Daniels scored on a 3-yard run to make it 21-6 with 9:42 left in the second quarter. The Seminoles converted their first four third downs.
Alabama then drove 75 yards in 12 plays over 7:06. Keelon Russell found freshman Cederian Morgan for a 21-yard touchdown, Morgan’s first career catch and score. The score was 21-13 with 2:36 left in the second quarter when lightning was detected within eight miles.
Play resumed with Florida State on offense. Ivan Taylor intercepted Daniels on the first series. Russell needed two plays to find Ryan Coleman-Williams for a 46-yard touchdown. Florida State went three-and-out. Alabama led 26-21 with 22 seconds left in the half. The Tide scored 20 unanswered points in that window.
Florida State led 21-13 when lightning stopped play with 2:36 left. Alabama scored 20 unanswered points and took a 26-21 lead. The Tide won 50-36, moved to 3-0, and Florida State fell to 1-2.
That swing is why some fans tied the delay to the comeback. Alabama went from down 21-13 to up 26-21 around the stoppage. The Tide later scored on nine straight possessions after its slow start.
“The delays and all the things that happened, I thought our guys handled it well early,” Mike Norvell said after the game. “Not as well coming out of the halftime break.” He called the stretch after the delay “an awful sequence of that game.”
During the break that replaced halftime, “We got some momentum right now,” Kalen DeBoer told the Crimson Tide Sports Network. “We have to continue to capitalize on it,” he added. Neither coach accused the other of gaming the weather.
The Seminoles have now lost 10 straight road games under Norvell. The record shows lightning was detected, and the NCAA protocol was followed. What remains open is whether that pause changed the game’s momentum.