Arkansas football: Hogs hope history repeats itself with freshman QB vs Alabama

The Arkansas football team will be starting a freshman quarterback on Saturday night against the Alabama Crimson Tide, but that’s worked for them once before.

It’s been a tough enough season already for the Arkansas football program, and now Bret Bielema’s 2-3 Razorbacks must face the challenge of taking on the nation’s No. 1 team on the road with a freshman quarterback under center.

Arkansas starting quarterback Austin Allen will not start tonight’s contest in Tuscaloosa due to a shoulder injury sustained in the fourth quarter of last week’s loss to South Carolina, according to Tony Tsoukalas of Rivals.com. Allen was solid last season with 3,430 passing yards and 25 touchdowns, but has been limited this year by injuries and will now give way to redshirt freshman Cole Kelley.

As Tsoukalas notes, the Razorbacks have not beaten Alabama  2006, when ultra-hyped freshman Mitch Mustain got the start for the Razorbacks. Mustain turned in a miserable 7-of-22 performance for 97 yards and three interceptions, but miraculously hit Ben Cleveland on an 11-yard touchdown pass in overtime for a 24-23 victory.

Of course, Alabama was in a slightly different situation in 2006 then now with Nick Saban’s unbreakable dynasty. The Crimson Tide suffered through the final year of the Mike Shula era at 6-7, and were later forced to vacate the wins due to NCAA violations.

Meanwhile, the 2006 Razorbacks earned the program’s first 10-win season in 27 years and enjoyed an eight-game winning streak under Mustain, a level of success the sliding program is unlikely to reach under Bielema. Mustain feuded with head coach Houston Nutt, transferred to USC after his freshman season, and appeared sparingly over the rest of his career.

The Razorbacks will hope for a little more out of Kelley, who will get the toughest test possible in his first career start. Kelley has at least looked good in an ultra-small sample size in relief of Allen, and has some intriguing physical skills to work with at a massive 6-7, 269 pounds.

Next: 4 more things for Nick Saban to rant about this week

It would be a huge shock if Kelley is even able to help Arkansas be competitive on Saturday night, but week seven has already shown that anything can happen with two major upsets.