Bruce Pearl dunks on Alabama using Gus Malzahn following upset loss to Florida State

Auburn basketball Bruce Pearl took a vicious shot at rival Alabama after its football team suffered an upset against Florida State to open the 2025 season. Pearl took to X immediately after the 31-17 loss for the Crimson Tide and and let his excitement be known, simply tweeting “BOOM” alongside a fire emoji.

He didn’t stop there, however. The Tigers coach later tweeted a photo of Seminoles offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn riding a bus that was running over the Crimson Tide mascot. The bus has “Gus Bus” written on the side of it.

pic.twitter.com/GzUneNsVHa

— Bruce Pearl (@coachbrucepearl) August 30, 2025

Of course, Malzahn used to be the head coach of the Tigers from 2014-20. In that time, he went 2-5 against Alabama.

Malzahn was let go from Auburn following the 2020 season and later took over as the head coach at UCF. This season is his first in Tallahassee as part of Mike Norvell‘s staff.

Pearl has been the coach of Auburn basketball since the 2014-15 season. He has taken the Tigers to the Final Four twice in the decade since, including this past season. However, he has an even 11-11 record against the Crimson Tide during his tenure at Auburn.

That certainly isn’t going to stop him from getting his shots in against his school’s bitter rival. Pearl wasn’t the only one to take a shot at Alabama after the game, as Malzahn took a victory lap himself.

“Felt like old times tonight!!” Malzahn wrote. He included a spear emoji in his tweet.

The offense was on point throughout the evening for Gus Malzahn. He produced 382 yards in the game against the Alabama defense, doing it in a fairly balanced fashion.

Thomas Castellanos was the central figure who made it all work. He finished with 152 yards passing, to go along with a team-leading 16 carries for 78 yards and a touchdown on the ground. That was enough to propel Florida State to an early lead, and the defense did the rest.

And Florida State was nearly a two-touchdown underdog in the contest. The Seminoles were coming off a 2-10 season in 2024 and while an offseason overhaul by coach Mike Norvell promised change, few saw Florida State upsetting Alabama in the opener.

“It was a complete team victory, and that’s what I love,” coach Mike Norvell said. “Offense, defense, they showed up big. … That’s what this game is all about. That’s how we train, that’s how we work. They were there for each other and just did a great job together.”

On3’s Thomas Goldkamp contributed to this report.