With 100 days until the kickoff of the 2026 college football season, CBS Sports college football analyst Chip Patterson has placed the Florida State Seminoles squarely in the middle of the sport’s most compelling early-season storylines.
In his annual 100 Days Out preview piece, Patterson listed the game between the Seminoles and Alabama Crimson Tide on Sept. 12 as one of the eight best non-conference games of the 2026 college football season — placing the Seminoles in elite company alongside Ohio State at Texas, Oklahoma at Michigan, Clemson at LSU, and a November showdown between Miami and Notre Dame that Patterson called “the much-anticipated rematch.”
The recognition arrives at a pivotal moment for a Florida State program still working to reestablish its national footing. Patterson framed the Seminoles’ broader situation as one of the sport’s most pressing burning questions, asking directly: “After Miami’s success, how long will it take Florida State and Clemson to bounce back?”
He described the Seminoles’ predicament as difficult to assess, writing: “The highs and lows of the last three years have been dizzying for the Seminoles, and right now it’s tough to tell if this is a program that’s just a half-step away from returning to greatness (which is how it looked in the wake of beating Alabama and last season’s strong start) or a distressed asset in need of total overhaul.”
The Sept. 12th matchup in Tuscaloosa is loaded with historical context. FSU famously defeated Alabama 31-17 in the 2025 season opener to open the year 3-0 before sputtering into a four-game losing streak that defined a 5-7 collapse. A return engagement in Bryant-Denny Stadium, one of college football’s most hostile environments, represents an immediate statement-game opportunity for Norvell’s program in 2026.
The Seminoles’ 2026 trajectory may well be defined in part by what happens on that September afternoon in Tuscaloosa, where a program looking to reclaim its identity will face one of college football’s most storied programs in one of its most storied venues.
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This article originally appeared on FSU Wire: FSU-Alabama named one of college football’s best games of 2026
Reporting by Brandon Foster, FSU Wire / FSU Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
