Alabama football rallies past Florida State 50-36 behind Keelon Russell's 320 yards

No. 10 Alabama beat Florida State 50-36 at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night, in front of an announced 100,077, after falling behind by 15 points in the second quarter. Quarterback Keelon Russell threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a 57-yard score. Alabama is 3-0. Florida State is 1-2.

If you are searching for the score this morning, that is it. The part worth understanding is the seven-minute stretch that flipped the game, and what it says about an Alabama team that has now scored 143 points in three weeks.

How Alabama turned it around

Florida State started fast. Ashton Daniels hit Duce Robinson for a 20-yard touchdown with 9:19 left in the first quarter, Ousmane Kromah ran in a 12-yarder late in the same quarter, and Daniels scored from 3 yards out in the second to make it 21-6. Alabama's first two drives inside scoring range had produced nothing but Conor Talty field goals from 32 and 43 yards.

Then the Crimson Tide scored three touchdowns in the final 2:36 before halftime. Russell found Cederian Morgan from 21 yards, hit Ryan Coleman-Williams for 46 yards (the two-point try failed), and connected with Kaleb Edwards from 16 yards with 22 seconds left. Alabama went into the locker room ahead 26-21 having scored 20 points in a little over two minutes of game clock.

Florida State retook the lead briefly at 28-26 on a 2-yard Daniels pass to Landen Thomas in the third. Alabama answered with an EJ Crowell 4-yard run, then Russell broke a 57-yard touchdown run with 2:15 left in the quarter to go up 40-28, and the Seminoles never got closer than seven again. Trae'shawn Brown's 20-yard touchdown run with 2:15 remaining closed it out.

The numbers that decided it

Alabama outgained Florida State 567 yards to 471 and won the turnover battle 3-0. Daniels threw for 377 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted three times, by Bray Hubbard, Red Morgan and Ivan Taylor. Alabama did not turn the ball over at all.

The run game was the quieter difference. Alabama ran 36 times for 247 yards, 6.9 a carry. Florida State ran 35 times for 94 yards, 2.7 a carry, which is why the Seminoles needed 13.0 yards per pass attempt just to stay in it. Alabama also went 2 for 2 on fourth down and held the ball for 32:08.

Russell finished 23 of 30. Lotzeir Brooks caught eight passes for 101 yards. Robinson led Florida State with six catches for 135 yards and a touchdown.

Alabama closed as an 18.5-point favorite with a total of 50.5, according to the DraftKings line published by ESPN, so the Seminoles covered comfortably and the 86 combined points sailed over.

What it changes

Alabama went into the weekend at No. 10 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and the AFCA Coaches Poll. Beating a Power Four opponent by 14 after trailing by 15 is the kind of result that moves a team up when the new polls land Sunday, though the win looks less imposing now that Florida State has lost two of three.

The schedule gets real quickly. Alabama hosts South Carolina on September 26, a week after the Gamecocks lost 41-34 at Mississippi State, and then hosts Georgia, No. 2 in last week's AP poll, on October 10. Florida State goes home for Central Arkansas on September 26 before Virginia and a trip to Louisville.

The open question for Alabama is the defense. It generated three interceptions and a sack from Devan Thompkins, but it also allowed 471 yards and 36 points at home to a team that had just lost to SMU. Georgia and Texas A&M are both on the Bryant-Denny schedule in October.

Full results and the rest of the slate are on our college football scores page, and kickoff times are on the schedule.

Sources: ESPN box score and Associated Press recap for Alabama vs Florida State, the ESPN AP Top 25 and AFCA Coaches Poll for Week 3, and ESPN team schedules. Betting line as published by ESPN from DraftKings. This is sports information, not betting advice.