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Reports say Allen out for game against Alabama

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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No one is confirming, but multiple reports are saying Austin Allen won’t be the starter at quarterback tonight against Alabama.

A source close to the program told Hawgs247.com that Cole Kelley would start tonight against Alabama.

Allen started the last 18 games, but that ends after a shoulder injury he suffered in the South Carolina game this past Saturday.

All week long, Arkansas coaches (and players) have been coy about whether Allen would play or not, but no one talked about how well he was practicing.

Kelley will be the starter, according to sources, but Hogs coach Bret Bielema threw Ty Storey’s name out on numerous occasions during the week so it will not be a surprise to see him some.

It has affected the lines on the game in Las Vegas, too.

On Friday, the line was 30-30.5 points in favor of Alabama.

Saturday, the line moved to between 34.5-35.5 points favoring the Crimson Tide.

PREDICTIONS: Hogs not good against No. 1

Andy Hodges
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There’s not many folks expecting Arkansas to stay within shouting distance of Alabama on Saturday night.

Even the hardest of the hardcore think this could be a huge blowout.

There’s been more conversation about Bret Bielema’s buyout than how close the Razorbacks can keep it against the No. 1 Crimson Tide.

While it would be nice to give some glowing optimism about the Hogs’ history of success against No. 1-ranked teams, well, there’s not a lot.

Arkansas vs. No. 1

1957 – Texas A&M, 7, Arkansas 6 (Fayetteville)
1961 – Alabama 10, Arkansas 3 (Sugar Bowl, New Orleans)
1962 – Texas 7, Arkansas 3 (Austin, Texas)
1963 – Texas 17, Arkansas 13 (Little Rock)
1964 – Arkansas 14, Texas 13 (Austin, Texas)
1965 – Arkansas 27, Texas 24 (Fayetteville)
1969 – Texas 15, Arkansas 14 (Fayetteville)
1970 – Texas 42, Arkansas 7 (Austin, Texas)
1973 – USC 17, Arkansas 0 (Los Angeles)
1981 – Arkansas 42, Texas 11 (Fayetteville)
1996 – Florida 42, Arkansas 7 (Fayetteville)
1997 – Florida 56, Arkansas 7 (Gainesville, Fla.)
1998 – Tennessee 28, Arkansas 24 (Knoxville, Tenn.)
2005 – USC 70, Arkansas 17 (Los Angeles)
2007 – Arkansas 50, LSU 48 in 3 OT (Baton Rouge, La.)
2009 – Florida 23, Arkansas 20 (Gainesville, Fla.)
2010 – Alabama 24, Arkansas 20 (Fayetteville)
2011 – LSU 41, Arkansas 17 (Baton Rouge, La.)
2012 – Alabama 52, Arkansas 0 (Fayetteville)
2013 – Alabama 52, Arkansas 0 (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
2014 – Mississippi State 17, Arkansas 10 (Starkville, Miss.)
2016 – Alabama 49, Arkansas 30 (Fayetteville)

That’s a record of 4-18 overall, 1-8 over the last decade. The last Hogs coach to beat a No. 1 team was Houston Nutt in that three-overtime game against LSU in his final game.

But, realistically, the only hope for the Hogs is if the Crimson Tide totally collapses and suffers some injuries like Clemson had against Syracuse on Friday night.

That could happen, but we’ll know in less than 30 minutes of real-time watching if that’s a possibility. That’s about the longest time the first quarter should take.

If Arkansas can’t get first downs, they’ll be in trouble. They HAVE to keep the Tide’s offense off the field because nobody knows if the Razorbacks’ defense can come close to stopping ANY of their running backs.

You won’t get a score prediction here. The guess is it’ll be whatever the Hogs can hold Alabama’s backups to scoring.

And, remember, don’t blame the Tide if Arkansas doesn’t try to stop the backups.

BYU at Mississippi State, 11 a.m, SEC Network

This is the return game from last season when the Bulldogs went to Utah and lost, 28-21, in two overtimes, but it did give them some momentum as they went on to win three of their last six games and got to a bowl game with just five wins. They should win this one. Mississippi State 35, BYU 10

South Carolina at Tennessee, 11 a.m., ESPN

Will Muschamp has never lost to the Vols as a head coach. You read that correctly. He’s 5-0 and may move a coach to the No. 1 spot on the Coaches Hot Seat rankings if he thumps the Vols and Butch Jones (who is actually catching more heat than Bielema right now). Bye Butch. South Carolina 28, Tennessee 14

Auburn at LSU, 2:30 p.m., CBS

Well, we had LSU dead and buried, then they went to Gainesville and beat Florida. Auburn has an offense. Florida doesn’t. Not playing at night helps Auburn and Gus Malzahn keeps pace, although Clemson losing doesn’t help his CFP rating any. Auburn 28, LSU 14

Vanderbilt at Ole Miss, 2:30 p.m., SEC Network

This series favors the underdog. Usually the Commodores have played the role of spoiler, but this time the Rebels are the team nobody is expecting much from … which means they actually have a chance. It’s crazy, but so is this series. Ole Miss 28, Vanderbilt 24

Texas A&M at Florida, 6 p.m., ESPN2

The Gators are struggling and Jim McElwain may launch himself into the hot seat with a loss. Two straight losses at home will not sit well with a fan base that isn’t bothered by a buyout and expects wins. Kevin Sumlin is close to winning his way off the hot seat in College Station. Texas A&M 31, Florida 14

Missouri at Georgia, 6:30 p.m., SEC Network

This game will be over early. It’s a shame colleges don’t have mercy rules like the high schools do because this one should start under one. Georgia wins BIG

Reindl pitches Gray back to even Fall Series

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Junior right-hander Jake Reindl outdueled fellow junior right-hander Blaine Knight Friday afternoon to help Team Gray to a 3-0 win over Team Cardinal, evening up the 2017 Razorback Fall World Series at 1-1.

Reindl retired the first eight batters he faced before giving up a hit. He went on to throw a strong 5.2 innings with just two hits allowed, no walks, and two strikeouts on 73 pitches.

The Fayetteville native was Arkansas’ best relief pitcher in conference play last year as he compiled a 0.93 ERA, best in the league, over 29 innings with 34 strikeouts.

“I just had a lot of downward movement today with the sinker,” Reindl said. “I just ran that inside into their hands and most guys got a lot of rollovers. Anytime you can throw very few pitches and get back in the dugout, it helps your team out and keep the momentum going.”

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn knew he was going to get a good performance out of Reindl after what he saw in the first two innings.

“Jake Reindl does what he does when he’s on,” Van Horn said. “He’s got a lot of tremendous movement and a lot of run on his fastball. He uses three different arm slots and just pitches.

“He doesn’t go out there thinking he’s going to strike out an ‘x-number’ of batters. He just wants to get outs. He had a couple of quick innings that almost allowed him to get six full innings in.”

After a dominating 13-0 victory two days ago in game one, Team Cardinal had a good opportunity to take a two game lead with Knight on the mound. However, Knight struggled early, giving up two runs in the first inning and throwing 30 pitches before getting his first three outs of the game.

Jared Gates and Heston Kjerstad both singled with one out before Grant Koch walked to load the bases. Then, Ben McClain hit a high chopper over the third baseman’s head which allowed Gates and Kjerstad to score easily.

In the second inning, a Jax Biggers double down the right field line was the best hit Team Gray got off of Knight. In the next at-bat, Gates singled for his second hit of the day. As Cardinal second baseman Hunter Wilson made the throw to first, the ball went wide, allowing Biggers to score for Team Gray’s third run.

Team Gray only managed five hits in the game, but got 11 men on base, utilizing six walks. Gates finished 2-for-5 with a run scored. McClain had the big swing of the day as he went 1-for-2 at the plate with two RBIs.

For Team Cardinal, sophomore Evan Lee followed up his strong pitching performance from Wednesday to go 2-for-4. Wilson had the only other hit for Team Cardinal.

Knight finished the game with four innings pitched, five hits allowed, two earned runs, two walks, and three strikeouts on 72 pitches.

“The first four hitters for Team Gray squared the ball up pretty good,” Van Horn said. “I think they frustrated Blaine (Knight) a little bit and fouled off a lot of pitches. I was proud of Blaine for bouncing back.

“In those last couple of innings, he was pretty good. He’s had a good fall. We don’t want him to try to throw 98 miles an hour. We just want him to get better, work on his mound presence, and get healthy and stronger for the spring.”

Game three of the Razorback Fall World Series is set for Sunday at Baum Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be a seven-inning game. Freshman Bryce Bonnin is set to take the mound for Team Cardinal, while freshman Caleb Bolden will throw for Team Gray.

All games of the Fall World Series are open and free to the public.

For more information on Razorback Baseball, follow @RazorbackBSB on Twitter.

2017 Fall World Series Schedule
Game 1 – Cardinal 13, Gray 0 (Cardinal leads 1-0)
Game 2 – Gray 3, Cardinal 0 (Series tied 1-1)
Game 3 – Sunday, Oct. 15 at 2 p.m. (7 inning game)
Game 4 – Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. (if necessary) (7 inning game)
Game 5 – Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 3 p.m. (if necessary) (7 inning game)

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Friday Edition

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Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Friday Edition

Morning Rush Hour 3

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Raymond House Interview

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Morning Rush Hour 2

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Jon Price Sports Information Traders

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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3 in the Lane with Nick Mason

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Morning Rush Hour 1

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Alabama doesn’t really care who plays QB for Hogs

Andy Hodges
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Either Bret Bielema truly doesn’t know if Austin Allen will be ready Saturday or he is trying to act like Alabama would care.

Regardless of what Nick Saban says publicly it doesn’t matter to him or his defense one bit.

It might for Arkansas.

Out of nowhere Wednesday Bielema threw out Ty Storey’s name. Bielema had popped into the press conference with defensive players and coaches because the SEC teleconference was cancelled due to technical difficulties.

To be honest, it’s a safe bet everyone had all but forgotten about Storey with all the hoopla surrounding Cole Kelley.

“He probably runs the offense closest to Austin,” he said.

That’s another clue if you’re looking for hidden nuggets in what coaches say. He mentioned it again on his radio coaches show Thursday night.

It wouldn’t be surprising now to see Storey take most of the snaps and Kelley continue with the Steamboat Package, which is primarily in short-yardage situations.

Playing Kelley against Alabama wouldn’t help. He’s not agile enough to dodge the Crimson Tide defenders who are probably already smelling blood in the water after a week in practice that likely hasn’t been a romp in the park.

The Hogs can thank Texas A&M for that. The Aggies took advantage of Alabama not being as focused in the second half and managed to make it look like a one-score game with a score very late.

It wasn’t that close and the only people telling you that are trying to make it sound like the Razorbacks have a legitimate shot in the game Saturday.

The only shot the Hogs really have is if the Tide misses the team bus to the game. Then they’ll have — at most — a half because they would make it there by then.

It’s been a long time since an Arkansas team went into a game this seriously out-manned. Maybe some of the Florida games in the 1990’s or that Tennessee game against Peyton Manning.

This one is a mismatch and the drama surrounding whether Allen plays or not is just how one-sided this game is.

Kelley likely isn’t the long-term answer for the Hogs. Quarterbacks his size don’t have a lot of success. It’s been tried and has never worked … not once.

Of course, with Bielema pleading for more physicality from this team “position-by-position,” he said Thursday night that might be one way to get it. Kelley doesn’t appear to shy away from contact.

Which actually plays into Alabama’s hands. The few teams that have beaten the Tide the last few years haven’t done it physically.

To beat Alabama over the last few years, you have to have a mobile quarterback. As one longtime SEC assistant said, “if you play Alabama with a dropback passing game you’re playing 10 against 11 and you’re going to get beat every time.”

Which, of course, is probably why the Hogs are 10-24 in SEC play the last five seasons. As the college football world has evolved over the last five seasons, Arkansas is stuck about a decade behind things.

Texas A&M made things interesting against Alabama last week because Kellen Mond has turned into a very capable scrambler. Maybe not the reincarnation of Johnny Manzel, but he gave the Tide’s defense fits the other night.

Arkansas doesn’t have anyone like that.

Which is why Alabama doesn’t really care who plays quarterback for the Hogs.

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