Florida State was the better-prepared and better football team on August 30th in Tallahassee. The Seminoles earned a victory over Alabama; one without funky bounces or untimely turnovers. Florida State lined up and beat Alabama. It happened.
But that game feels like a long time ago now. It's a distant memory for Alabama, a team that has gone on to win four straight games since, including back-to-back wins over ranked SEC opponents Georgia and Vanderbilt. Alabama has successfully put the game behind them and rebounded back to the ranking they started the season at.
Florida State, on the other hand, is still desperately clinging to that win over the Crimson Tide as its only fleeting moment of recent relevancy. The 'Noles are 2-2 since that win, and 0-2 against Power Four competition. They've lost two in a row, falling to Virginia in overtime on the road and losing a home tilt against Miami that looked closer on the final scoreboard than it actually was.
Florida State rose all the way to No. 8 ahead of the Virginia game - the same spot now occupied by the Crimson Tide. FSU has fallen all the way to No. 25, just barely hanging on to a spot in the polls.
Florida State head coach Mike Norvell's comments on Monday make it quite obvious as to why the Crimson Tide and Seminoles are where they are now.
"Alabama is a good football team," Norvell told reporters on Monday. "I know when we beat them in Week 1, they weren't, obviously, but now all of a sudden they're a good team again. We were dominant in that game. It could have been much worse if we were a bit cleaner in that."
Mike Norvell says Florida State could have beaten Alabama worse
37 days have passed since Florida State's win over Alabama, and Norvell is choosing to focus on that game in his press conference on Monday, when Florida State has a game this weekend against Pittsburgh. If you're curious as to why the Seminoles aren't getting better, that's why.
We could spend time going into the fallacy in his thinking about that game, but we'll leave it at this: Florida State deserved that win, but it was a perfect storm: new scheme on both sides of the ball, a new team, and zero film for Alabama's coaches to dissect. Since then, FSU has put plenty on film that has been exploited. It will continue to get exploited.
Florida State put a lot into winning that one game. And instead of focusing on improvement, Norvell continues to point to it as if a regular-season win is enough to appease his fanbase long-term. It's not.
But the Seminoles are still getting credit for that win, contrary to what the head coach thinks. It's the only reason they are currently ranked. Their resume outside of it is nothing: wins over East Texas A&M and Kent State don't move the needle for anyone.
Norvell wants to ensure nobody forgets he beat Alabama this year. Why? Because Florida State hasn't done anything since.
On the other hand, Alabama learned from the defeat and moved forward.
One single game won't define the season for either team, as badly as Norvell wants it to.