Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell dazzled in a 50-36 win over Florida State on September 19, 2026, completing 76.7% of his passes for 320 yards, adding 56 rushing yards, and scoring four touchdowns to complete a stellar early-season surge for Kalen DeBoer’s Crimson Tide.
College football’s third week of the 2026 season delivered high-stakes chaos across the country, headlined by breakout individual performances, dramatic comebacks, and stunning upsets. From Tuscaloosa to Oxford, the sport’s landscape shifted as marquee quarterbacks seized the spotlight and traditional powerhouses stumbled.
Keelon Russell Takes Control of Alabama’s Offense Against Florida State
That player is Keelon Russell, a highly touted recruit and former five-star quarterback out of Duncanville High School in Texas who won a hotly contested fall camp battle against veteran Austin Mack, last season’s primary backup to first-round pick Ty Simpson. In Russell, Alabama placed the offense in the hands of its youngest playmaker yet in Tuscaloosa during a critical year for a program looking to rebound from last year’s lopsided College Football Playoff loss to Indiana in the Rose Bowl.
As a true freshman, Russell was the third-string quarterback, appearing in just two games as a reserve against Louisiana-Monroe and Eastern Illinois, finishing with just 37 career snaps under his belt before stepping into the starting role for the 11th-ranked Crimson Tide. He threw for 7,444 passing yards and 97 career touchdowns in high school at Duncanville, completing 71.3% of his passing attempts, and arrived on campus as the recruiting industry’s No. 2-ranked quarterback in the class of 2025.
After opening September with a 48-10 victory over East Carolina under a sweltering heat inside Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa where he completed 18 of 30 passes for 256 yards and rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown on 13 attempts to account for 342 all-purpose yards, Russell set an Alabama record: his 86 rushing yards were the most by a Crimson Tide quarterback making his first career start, eclipsing the 81 yards set by Jalen Milroe in Alabama’s 24-20 victory over Texas A&M.
Russell put on another masterclass on September 19 against Florida State. Late in the second quarter against the Seminoles, coach Kalen DeBoer stood with his hands on his knees as the offense floundered and the Seminoles ran away while all six of Alabama’s points had come from Conor Talty’s leg. Facing a third-and-5 from the Florida State 28-yard line, Russell found receiver Lotzeir Brooks for 7 yards to move the chains, satisfying DeBoer, who was clapping toward the field and yelling toward his offense. One play later, Russell gave Cederian Morgan his first collegiate score on a 21-yard slant, the final play before a 34-minute lightning delay.
In the locker room during the impromptu halftime period, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and quarterbacks coach Bryan Ellis came in confident. Russell remembers them knowing the team had the tools and the guy to do it, recalling, "We all knew like, ‘We get everything we want.’ The defense is giving everything we want. We just have to execute the simple plays and just get first downs."
Trinidad Chambliss Shines in Ole Miss Victory Over LSU
While Russell captured headlines in Tuscaloosa, the individual performance of the weekend belonged to Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who wrested away the Heisman board.
Don’t let the week of press centered around Tigers coach Lane Kiffin fool you: when it was all over, the night belonged to Chambliss, whose first-half performance against No. 7 LSU was masterful. After the Rebels blew a 17-point lead, Chambliss led a game-winning touchdown drive, his final drive of the second half living forever in the echoes of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, capped off with a 14-yard touchdown run on a perfect read pull. The Grand Rapids, Michigan, native took a risk by coming back to school instead of following Lane Kiffin to Baton Rouge.
Sports Illustrated highlighted his remarkable journey, finishing the night with gaudy numbers, completing 33 of 48 passes for 363 yards, two passing touchdowns, an interception, and a rushing score.
NC State Suffers Historic Collapse Against Vanderbilt
Not every program experienced glory in Week 3.
Instead of taking a safety to seal the victory, Bailey scrambled in the end zone, had the ball knocked loose, and watched as Vanderbilt cornerback Jordan Matthews recovered it for a game-winning touchdown as detailed by Sports Illustrated. The disastrous sequence capped an afternoon where NC State squandered an early 17-0 lead, leaving Dave Doeren’s squad searching for answers.
Around the Country: Louisville Stuns SMU and Kentucky Defeats Texas A&M
Week 3 also shook up conference races across the collegiate landscape. Louisville established itself as a legitimate ACC contender by defeating No. 16 SMU in the ranked-vs.-ranked game America forgot, fueled by Louisville quarterback Lincoln Kienholz, the weirdest quarterback in the Power 4. Riggs High School in Pierre, South Dakota, and was previously known among Ohio State fans primarily for a poor relief performance in the 2023 Cotton Bowl against Missouri. On September 6, Kienholz went ball-for-ball with Rebels gunslinger Trinidad Chambliss, and against SMU he imposed his will with 177 yards and two passing touchdowns, assisted by a dominant backfield tandem of Keyjuan Brown and Isaac Brown noted by Sports Illustrated.
