Why Florida State is the perfect season opener for Alabama in 2025

Sep 28, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer leads his team onto the field before the game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-Imagn Images

Season two of the Kalen DeBoer era will begin in Tallahassee.

This game against Florida State will reveal if DeBoer and Alabama can handle business on the road against a team coming off a 2-10 season, one of the worst in program history. 

Florida State’s 2024 collapse proceeded its 2023 undefeated regular season where Alabama made the College Football Playoff over the Seminoles after an injury to star quarterback Jordan Travis and Alabama’s 27-24 SEC Championship victory over top-ranked Georgia.

Two seasons later, Florida State will host Alabama in Doak S. Campbell Stadium on Aug. 30. This SEC-ACC showdown is set up like a WWE redemption storyline, and Alabama has the chance to play the role of a heel. That is not the only reason why the Seminoles are the perfect season opener for the Crimson Tide.

Alabama will be the first team to play Florida State after the Seminoles’ 2024 breakdown, giving the Crimson Tide a perfect opportunity to fix an issue from last season. 

Last season, it seemed as if players did not take road games against opponents with inferior records seriously enough.

In 2024, Alabama lost three conference games in DeBoer’s first season, two of which came against unranked Vanderbilt and Oklahoma who finished the season with a combined conference record of 5-11. 

“We know that was not the standard of Alabama and how they play football here,” Germie Bernard said of 2024.

To begin 2025, Florida State will have a clean slate after finishing 2-10 last season, and the challenge for Alabama is not letting the Seminoles’ abysmal 2024 record affect preparation. 

Quarterback battle aside, the biggest question mark ahead of the 2025 season is if every player will buy into DeBoer in year two.

“When coach DeBoer first got here, it was kind of a culture shock,” wide receiver Ryan Williams said on “SEC Network’s All In.” “Just listening to the other guys. Some people weren’t bought into coach DeBoer yet. Now that we’re in year 2, basically everyone that’s here, they’re bought into coach DeBoer and the rest of the coaching staff and everything we do.”

When the Florida State War Chants sound off in unison with the band in the scorching Tallahassee afternoon heat, the Crimson Tide will find out if they are up to the standard set by the legends before them. 

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