Arkansas Football: Auburn will be true test of Cole Kelley’s confidence

If Cole Kelley and Arkansas football can defeat the Auburn Tigers, it would go a long way to getting the season back on track.

We’ve heard about the confidence that freshman Arkansas quarterback Cole Kelley holds, even as such a young college football player. Kelley was thrown into the for the first start of his career against the No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.

Alabama dominated Arkansas through and through on its way to a 41-9 victory. Kelley was under pressure the entire game and was sacked five times. It did not help that the Hogs could not get anything going on the ground. Arkansas totaled just 27 rushing yards on 29 carries.

Kelley had a respectable stat line considering all the pressure on him during the contest. He tossed one touchdown and one interception, while throwing for 200 yards and completing more than half his passes. That’s not the worst result considering it was his first career start and it came on the road against the best team in the country.

In Week 8, Kelley and the Razorbacks battle the No. 21 Auburn Tigers, another team coming off a loss in Week 7. Auburn fell short to the No. 24 LSU Tigers, a team that lost to the Troy Trojans not too long ago. It will be a battle of two SEC West squads that desperately need a victory.

Kelley will get the start for Arkansas again with senior quarterback Austin Allen still out with a shoulder injury. Yet, Allen had trouble getting much of anything going consistently when he’s been under center for the Hogs this year.

Allen has tossed eight touchdowns and four interceptions so far in 2017. He struggled against Auburn last season in an eventual 56-3 loss to the Tigers. However, Kelley can open up a new chapter for the Hogs this season and put that 53-point loss from last year truly in the past.

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For Kelley to help the Hogs bounce back, he’ll obviously need better production than against Alabama. Arkansas will also need an improved ground game to open up Auburn’s defense for Kelley. It will test Kelley’s confidence this weekend when the Hogs take the field for yet another huge game against a divisional opponent.