Tide QB situation still up in the air for a reason

SEC Network announcer Andre Ware is more than a little biased.

His commentating from Alabama's 41-0 win over Florida Atlantic made it painfully clear that he favors Blake Sims to be the Crimson Tide's starting quarterback the rest of the season.

Sims would make routine plays and complete passes with minimal degree of difficulty and one would be led to believe that he was the next coming of Johnny Manziel, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

When Alabama went ahead 21-0, Ware said: "Blake Sims is the starting QB at Alabama … forget about it."

Sims was efficient, had a couple of nice scrambles, including one for a touchdown and made some solid short throws on wide receiver screens to get the ball into the hands of his playmakers.

One of the examples of Ware's over-exuberance was later in the second quarter when he was criticizing Jake Coker for a sideline route to Amari Cooper that didn't have the authority that Sims' passes had.

It couldn't have been further from the truth.

Sims' passes in those situations were between the 30-yard lines. Florida Atlantic defenders were giving Amari Cooper 10-yard cushions because of the fear the Owls would get beat deep.

Coker's throw came on the 10-yard line. There was no cushion. There was nowhere for the Florida Atlantic defenders to go. They were close to the line of scrimmage. Coker's throw was fine.

You would think the 1989 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback would know that.

The guess here is Ware wants Sims, a fellow African-American, to be the Crimson Tide's undeniable starter. He cheered and campaigned for him enough during the SEC Network's broadcast.

And, that may happen, but give it some time. Don't force the issue.

There's a reason after last week's win over West Virginia that Alabama coach Nick Saban still declared the quarterback situation a competition despite Sims playing all the meaningful snaps.

Ideally – like Ware said – it's better for a team to have one guy in charge.

Right now, there isn't one guy good enough to be in charge.

At Alabama, the only thing that matters is winning the national championship.

Neither Sims nor Coker is ready to assume that responsibility right now … thus the competition.

Sims has improved immensely from last season. If you ever would have told me that the same guy playing mediocre in mop-up duty would be in this position, I wouldn't have believed you. But he made some good plays against Florida Atlantic. Again, keep in mind it's Florida Atlantic … those same skills must be seen against A&M, LSU and Auburn too.

Coker has some incredible physical tools. It's obvious. He's the guy that has NFL potential.

He made some nice passes. He made some poor throws. The 230-pounder scrambled and bowled over a few surprised Florida Atlantic defenders. He obviously has considerable arm strength. He made some poor decisions too, like getting sacked and letting the clock run out before half inside FAU's 5-yard line.

But Coker doesn't have the years of experience in Tuscaloosa like Sims. He wasn't in spring practice while fulfilling graduation requirements at Florida State that enabled him to be at Alabama.

That's why I think Saban played Coker more on Saturday than Sims. He wanted Coker to have an opportunity to get some rust off, run the team and see more of his talent and leadership skills.

Saturday's game was more or less a controlled scrimmage for Sims and Coker.

There's one more of those games left – next Saturday at home against Southern Mississippi.

That's likely going to be the last game of the quarterback competition. Following that, Saban will make the call moving forward before playing Florida at home on Sept. 20 – that's when the run for SEC West, SEC title and College Football Playoff begins.

Who is it going to be? To me, it's still a dead heat with one more cupcake left before the meat of schedule arrives.