Saban undecided about starting quarterback

Alabama coach Nick Saban appears to be having as difficult a time deciding on a quarterback as Joe Paterno has had.

As his weekly press conference Monday, Saban raised the possibility that both of his quarterbacks – redshirt sophomore AJ McCarron and redshirt freshman Phillip Sims – will play in Saturday's game against Penn State at Beaver Stadium.

Saban said he would spend the week continuing to develop both quarterbacks.

"Later in the week, as we see how the two guys practice, we're going to make a determination as to which guy will give us the best opportunity in this particular game," he said, "or if there is some combination of the two that would be helpful and useful to us. We'll look at the option of doing that."

McCarron completed 14 of 23 passes for 226 yards and a touchdown for the second-ranked Crimson Tide in Saturday's 48-7 victory over Kent State. Sims went 7 of 14 for 73 yards. Each player threw a pair of interceptions, although Saban said after the game that most of the picks were on tipped balls.

Paterno has spent much of the spring and pre-season deliberating on his starting quarterback, sophomore Rob Bolden or redshirt junior Matt McGloin. Both played in Saturday's season-opening 41-7 win over Indiana State, and the veteran coach said after the game that both may play against Alabama.

Saban feels he will see a different Penn State team from last year, when the Nittany Lions lost 24-3 in stifling conditions in Tuscaloosa.

"They have more experience," he said. "Their quarterbacks are playing better which is probably the biggest key offensively. The strength of their team on offense is probably their three returning receivers. They have seven starters back on defense plus a couple of other guys that started or played in the past.

"So this is more of a veteran team in terms of the experience that they have. They traditionally play very well at home. They haven't lost many games to non-conference opponents at home for a long time. So there are a lot of challenges here for us but we have to play on the road for the first time, and this will be a good experience for us down the road."

The Crimson Tide looked strong defensively against Kent State, limiting the Golden Flashes to six first downs and 90 total yards of offense. Kent quarterbacks completed just 20 of 47 passes for 99 yards.

However, Saban said he was not satisfied with his team's fundamentals and execution, and expects improvement this week.

"Penn State is always the kind of team that they don't give you anything," he said. "You have to go take what you're going to get by playing sound, solid, fundamental football and not giving them anything in the meantime. You're going to have to beat them with good fundamentals."

--Joe Juliano