If you weren’t a FSU player, coach, or fan admit it you didn’t give them much of a chance against top 10-ranked Alabama. I dare you to find someone not associated with Florida State who thought they’d beat Alabama. Beat them they did, and honestly it wasn’t all that competitive in a FSU 31-17 win.
The Noles were more physical, tougher, and just plain better.
Transfer BC QB Thomas Castellanos made this Joe Namath type proclamation, that’s become a T-Shirt.
Back in June, Thomas Castellanos told @On3sports re: Alabama that “They don’t have Nick Saban to save them. I just don’t see them stopping me.”
The Florida State QB beat Alabama on Saturday and has now released T-shirts with the quote.https://t.co/ZUk5Bcyvyg pic.twitter.com/qXUhxSIYUu
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) August 31, 2025
Maybe everyone should have listened to Castellanos. If he was that confident, maybe there was something to it.
He hit one of the most unmistakable points going into the game. Alabama doesn’t have a Nick Saban anymore. Without Saban, the aura of invincibility is gone from Alabama. The college football world saw them lose to a 7-6 Vanderbilt team, a 6-7 Oklahoma team and a 5 loss Michigan team. FSU went 2-10 last year, but there wasn’t anyone who didn’t think they wouldn’t be better, but were they ready to beat a still talented, if now erratic, Alabama program?
Thomas Castellanos thought so, and if your QB thinks so, then the rest of your team starts to believe it too. Throw in new OC Guz Malzahn, who beat Alabama 3 times as a head coach when they had Nick Saban, and you start to have the anatomy of a team and staff that had no fear of Alabama.
This wasn’t a flukey 5-turnover rain-induced upset. Florida State ran it down Alabama’s throat for over 200 yards and then asked if they liked it. They also held Alabama to under 100 yards rushing.
This changes the entire complexion of the Florida State season – from a team that probably had an 8-4, 9-3 ceiling to one that can win 10-11 games, and be a real factor in the ACC race. If FSU gets by an improved-looking Virginia, then they could host Miami with a 4-0 record.
Last year, an opening upset loss wrecked the Florida State season. One year later, an upset win could do just the opposite and propel the Noles to a season that many outside the FSU camp did not expect.
