Considering that the Alabama Crimson Tide waltzed into Doak Campbell Stadium as a two-touchdown favorite behind Kalen DeBoer entering his second year manning the controls of the program, it felt like very few fans were expecting the Florida State Seminoles to do much of anything against the team sitting at No. 8 in preseason college football rankings.
That's why we love this insane and crazy sport, though, because not only did FSU pull off the upset over Alabama, they were able to back up quarterback Thomas Castellanos' trash talk with an emphatic victory in which the Seminoles largely dominated every phase of the game. They rendered the Crimson Tide rushing attack ineffective, ran circles around a vaunted defense, and made everyone in Tuscaloosa ready to put Ty Simpson back on the bench.
The end result was a 31-17 victory for Florida State. And just like that, especially after the preseason No. 1-ranked team in the Texas Longhorns also fell on the road to Ohio State, the rankings were shaken up midway through the first week.
How far will Alabama fall in next week's college football rankings and the AP Top 25? Let's take a look at our latest projections.
Projected college football rankings after Florida State upsets Alabama
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Penn State Nittany Lions
- Clemson Tigers
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Texas Longhorns
- Oregon Ducks
- LSU Tigers
- Miami Hurricanes
- Arizona State Sun Devils
- Illinois Fighting Illini
- South Carolina Gamecocks
- Michigan Wolverines
- Florida Gators
- SMU Mustangs
- Iowa State Cyclones
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Indiana Hoosiers
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Texas Tech Red Raiders
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Florida State Seminoles
- Auburn Tigers
There are obviously still a number of games left to be played inside the Top 25 on Saturday, as well as on Sunday with South Carolina in action in addition to a much-anticipated showdown between Notre Dame and Miami. Let's also not forget that LSU and Clemson are still left to play on Saturday. But for now, these are where the projected rankings stand.
Alabama projected to fall outside Top 15 in rankings after FSU upset
Yes, Alabama is going to freefall quite a bit after this loss. Having said that, I know how this works when it comes to AP voters and the national college football media machine. They're going to do the thing wherein Florida State gets enough respect that it still makes sense to have Alabama inside the Top 20 of the college football rankings despite the "0-1" that will be next to their name.
Who can argue with the fact that they lost to a now-ranked opponent on the road, right?
That, however, won't quell all of the concerns for Alabama fans after a season-opening loss such as this. There are real worries about this team now and, while the schedule isn't as daunting as fellow SEC peers like Oklahoma and Florida, if the Crimson Tide play like they did in Tallahassee for the rest of the season, they won't even sniff the College Football Playoff.
Florida State moves into the AP Top 25 after statement upset
As mentioned, FSU is almost surely going to get a spot in the next batch of college football rankings, but it's not solely to help continue to prop up Alabama.
When you get down to it, there's a non-zero chance that the disastrous 2-10 season from a year ago was the outlier, not the run to the cusp of making the CFB Playoff a couple of years ago. As such, going out in Week 1 and knocking off a Top 10 team in your house is a great way to make such a statement.
Could it all still come crashing down for Mike Norvell and Gus Malzahn's team? Absolutely! But after Week 1, we're still looking at this Seminoles team as much more of a real threat than we probably ever expected them to be, and they have a win over Alabama on their resumé already to prove it.