TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — An offensive exhibition, it was not.

And, as the quarterback battle goes quiet for a few months, performances were inconsistent on a picturesque A-Day in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

First-team passer Blake Sims received praise from Nick Saban and teammates this spring, but drops and solid defense limited his production Saturday. He completed 13 of 30 for 178 yards overall after going 5-for-15 through three quarters.

Two of his passes were intercepted, but Sims threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to Chris Black with 21 seconds left.

Redshirt freshman Cooper Bateman fared slightly better with the second group. He completed 11 of 24 passes — a few in traffic — for 156 yards as Robert Foster emerged as a favorite target. The former 5-star had a game-high four catches for 50 yards.

The White team beat Crimson, 17-13.

The offense was dialed back significantly, a smiling Saban said, while noting there were no major concerns exiting the day. Running back T.J. Yeldon estimated 10 percent of the playbook was used.

"Blake Sims, there are probably somethings he can do as a quarterback, that we don't feature in this game," Saban said. "For him to be an effective player at this position, in fairness to him, it's probably good for us to do things like that."

Junior Amari Cooper was targeted only a few times and caught three pass for 45 yards. In the first two scrimmages, he had 19 catches and 287 yards combined.

"I didn't think the consistency on offense was what I would have liked it to be today," Saban said. "We did make some plays, but there wasn't really the consistency that you would really like to see in the offense.

"But when you play against each other, what's good for one, is not so good for the other. So you have to give the defense some credit. I think the front people on our defense really made some improvement this spring. We're more athletic and we probably have more depth and we have more guys who can rush."

After a clean, but uneventful first half, turnovers became an issue in the second.

Giveaways led directly to the first two scores of the game.

First, defensive end D.J. Pettway found a side-armed Sims pass in his lap early in the third quarter. He sprinted 29 yards for the unlikely first touchdown.

A few plays later, the fumbling issue returned. Kenyan Drake dropped one inside his own 10 and T.J. Yeldon scored two snaps later.

An Adam Griffith 41-yard field goal capped a 10-play, 46-yard drive to end the third quarter with the final points. Griffith was 1-for-3 kicking with a blocked attempt and a miss from 31 yards. He also missed an extra point.

Bateman's well thrown pass in the final minutes hit

ArDarius Stewart

for a 32-yard touchdown.

This story will be updated.