Is Alabama's Week 3 opponent, Florida State, a bad football team? No one has a sure answer. Based on four credible computer models, Florida State is ranked anywhere between college football's No. 36 team and No. 52.
Based on ACC Power Rankings by Jarrett Guerrera on the FSU site Chop Chat, the Seminoles are the ACC's No. 16 team. The ACC's winless team, Georgia Tech, is ranked much higher at No. 8.
For FSU fans, the painful reality in Tallahassee is that the Seminoles are in turmoil. Athletic Director Mike Alford was fired in recent days. Alford's termination indicates that Mike Norvell could get the axe at any time.
The situation is not much better inside the team. Mike Norvell gambled on Auburn transfer quarterback Ashton Daniels. Daniels has failed to deliver. He is outside college football's top 100 quarterbacks in completion percentage, at 58% for the season. In his college career at Stanford, Auburn, and FSU, Daniels is 6-21 as a starter.
On the Chop Chat site, almost no attention is given to FSU's Saturday trip to Tuscaloosa. The reluctance is justified. FSU has some athletes who can cause the Crimson Tide some problems. There's enough Florida State talent to perhaps keep the game from becoming a blowout. But the Noles cannot beat Alabama. On Saturday, only the Crimson Tide can beat itself.
Alabama will not repeat its first half performance against Kentucky
Against Kentucky, Alabama showed it is vulnerable to its own miscues. That happening again in Tuscaloosa is unlikely.
Top computer models project that the Crimson Tide will not score more than 36 points. They project Florida State to score between 12 and 18 points. The projected winning margin for the Alabama Crimson Tide ranges from 16 to 20 points.
If Alabama plays poorly enough (it won't), those margins might slip to 10 to 14 points. But the Crimson Tide will not slip up badly enough for a Florida State team in turmoil, with a 'dead man walking' head coach, to win.
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