The West Virginia Mountaineers play the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. ET. Watch the live stream or listen to the radio broadcast below.
Heading into the 2014 season, the biggest question for Alabama is who will replace quarterback AJ McCarron. Jake Coker and Blake Sims still appear to be in a quarterback competition, with coach Nick Saban so far declining to commit to one as the starter.
Saban also indicated whomever started Saturday wasn't guaranteed to start the next week.
"I mean, (New York Yankees manager) Joe Girardi tells (Masahiro) Tanaka he's starting in the game, he's not telling him he's going to pitch nine innings," Saban told the Associated Press. "Does he tell them that or does he just pitch until he doesn't pitch well anymore?"
Coker transferred from Florida State in May, whereas Sims has two years worth of experience as the backup to McCarron. Saban didn't tip his hat to which quarterback had the upper hand, but he did say knowledge of the offense was more important than confidence, possibly suggesting Sims would start.
"We say players play without confidence, but to think that a guy can play with confidence when he doesn't yet have knowledge is almost, like, stupid," Saban said. "A player has to be able to develop the knowledge and understanding of what he's supposed to do for him to really have confidence in doing it. Somebody at the quarterback position who is in a new system, terminology and all that, that's got to be a bit of a factor."
Despite a neck-and-neck quarterback competition, right tackle Austin Shepherd said the two signal callers are actually helping each other out.
"They both push each other and they're both getting better by the day," Shepherd said. "I think that kind of helps, but we honestly have no idea who's going to start yet. I'm just happy to see both of those guys succeeding and doing well."
