Josh Pate compares Alabama-Florida State upset to App State-Michigan stunner
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
Josh Pate was so stunned by the Crimson Tide’s loss to then-unranked Florida State that he compared it to 1 of the greatest upsets in college football history.
During a podcast appearance on The Next Round on Thursday, Pate, a college football commentator for On3 and ESPN, said last Saturday’s upset in Tallahassee harkened back to App State’s colossal victory over then-No. 5 Michigan in 2007.
With its 31-17 loss to FSU, Alabama became the first AP top 10 team ever to lose an opener to a team that lost 10 or more games the previous season.
“I don’t remember being more surprised by a college football result,” Pate said. “This was App State over Michigan level stuff for me…What we have concluded here is that practice can lie to you. The game doesn’t. Practice can lie to you, I guess.”
Pate is concerned that if the intangibles aren’t present, no amount of rah-rah will change the course of the season for the Crimson Tide.
“The non-negotiables of effort, toughness, accountability, ability to sustain, will to win, that sort of thing,” Pate said. “If that’s not present, I don’t know that you have some magical, come-to-Jesus team meeting and get all that right.”
Next up, No. 21 Alabama has home games vs. UL Monroe and Wisconsin. However, Pate is circling Sept. 27 at No. 4 Georgia as the true barometer for how to evaluate the Crimson Tide.
Either the hot seat will ratchet up further for Kalen DeBoer, or Alabama will rise to the occasion when it seems like they’re already being counted out.
“You kind of find out what your season is going to be made of,” Pate said.
