Plenty of questions on Wilson

TUSCALOOSA — With about 10 minutes remaining in Alabama’s 30-24 win over Houston, backup quarterback Greg McElroy started warming up on the sidelines.

With Alabama up 30-17, who knows what was going through head coach Nick Saban’s head at the time? Maybe he wanted to get McElroy some playing time. Maybe he wanted to put the heat on quarterback John Parker Wilson.

But McElroy never made it into the game, which makes one wonder. What is Saban’s perspective on the whole Wilson situation?

Once again, Wilson was stellar through three quarters of play. He had 157 yards of passing. He looked stellar in finding Nikita Stover and Mike McCoy on 23-yard touchdown passes.

But that was all we heard from Wilson the rest of the game.

He didn’t have a single completion in the fourth quarter and had, of all things, a shovel pass intercepted, which set up Houston on its final drive of the fourth quarter to win the game.

While Alabama still managed to win, Saturday continued a troubling trend for the Crimson Tide’s single-season record holder for passing yards. He was once again inconsistent, his first-half heroics going almost for naught in the second half.

Against Arkansas two weeks ago, Wilson looked strong in the first half, but two turnovers in the second equated to 14 Razorback points.

On Saturday, the Crimson Tide defense stopped the Cougars’ offense on that last drive, but you have to wonder what Saban might consider doing with his quarterback situation.

I’ve always taken the path of least resistance. The coaching staff knows more than me, and if they thought that McElroy is a better option, then by all means they would have used him by now.

None of us has seen much of McElroy in a real-game situation, so it’s tough to say whether he would do better. Nick Fanuzzi, another backup, is just a freshman, and he might play into Alabama’s future, but not now.

Heading into Saturday’s game, Wilson was 91st in the country in passing efficiency. Last season, he was 47th — decent, but not exactly world-beating.

This all begs to question: Is Wilson facing too much pressure as the leader on Alabama’s offense? Maybe he is.

If you look at the Crimson Tide, you can see a whole slew of playmakers. With Glen Coffee’s breakout performance on Saturday, the Crimson Tide now has two running backs in Coffee and Grant who can break a game open.

Also, on occasion, Roy Upchurch has shown an ability to handle more playing time.

Alabama’s offensive line has shown an ability to be dominant at times, opening up holes for the running back and — except last week against FSU — given Wilson time to pick apart a defense.

But when former coach Mike Shula recruited the team as is, he clearly had more of a passing game in mind. The Crimson Tide has a glut of wide receivers who can make plays and get open for the quarterback.

The problem is tough to put your finger on. Maybe the Crimson Tide has played some good defenses. Arkansas, Georgia and FSU are as aggressive as they come, but you would figure that against a team like Houston that is ranked No. 63 in pass-efficiency defense, Wilson could get back on track, which makes the problem even more perplexing. Maybe it’s a new offense, or maybe — dare I say it? — Wilson is missing Shula. Say what you want about Shula as a head coach, but he is a solid quarterbacks coach.

Whatever the issue, Wilson will face more questions as the Crimson Tide heads toward Ole Miss on Saturday. Not exactly the way he wants to spend a week after a win.