Danny Kanell describes his emotions of watching Florida State upset Alabama

Danny Kanell was front and center to witness Florida State‘s upset of Alabama on Saturday, and it couldn’t have played out better for the former Seminoles QB. Despite entering as the underdog at home, FSU went on to shock the country and pull off a 31-17 upset of the No. 8 Crimson Tide.

Kanell was on the field with the rest of the Florida State faithful to celebrate, soaking in the triumph of his alma mater. He described the feeling in a recent appearance on Always College Football with Greg McElroy.

“I had two of my daughters with me,” Kanell said. “We rushed the field right with everybody else. We were in the middle of the mayhem and bouncing around. After the TV broadcast ended, they still played music and everybody was just in a great mood. It was awesome.”

Florida State has had a lot of ups and downs over the past several seasons. After four straight losing seasons from 2018-21, the Seminoles strung together back-to-back years with double digit wins in 2022 and 2023.

FSU went undefeated in the 2023 regular season and won the ACC Championship, but infamously was not selected to the College Football Playoff after quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending injury. The Seminoles were blown out in the Orange Bowl and followed up with a 2-10 record in 2024.

Suffice it to say, it’s been a painful last couple of seasons. Florida State has had to endure a lot of late, and who knows what the rest of this year will hold. But for right now, the Seminoles get to feel on top of the college football world, and that’s worth enjoying.

“It has been a bumpy ride since Jimbo (Fisher) left,” Kanell said. “The thing that really was kind of a full circle moment, if you remember sort of at the beginning of the end for Florida State of a dominant run was when they played Alabama in Atlanta. Deondre Francois goes down. This was like 2016 I think, 2017. That was the beginning of the end of Jimbo. Florida State kind of trails off. Then we’ve been an incredible roller coaster ride since then.

“The ups and downs, it just felt like there was so much of a relief from Florida State fans thinking, ‘Finally we’re competitive again.’ Who knows what the season hold, but at least we were competitive and we got a win against a top tier brand in college football. It just felt very cathartic. It made it that much (more) enjoyable. When you go through the rough times, it really does make you enjoy the good times that much more.”