Arkansas @ Colorado State preview
Sonny Lubrick Field at Canvas Stadium
It’s one game into the new season, and a quarterback quandary has developed at Arkansas. Both Cole Kelley and Ty Storey played and played well in the Razorbacks’ 55-20 season-opening win over Eastern Illinois and first-year head coach Chad Morris says both will play again Saturday when Arkansas visits Colorado State.
Kelley, a sophomore, started and completed 9-of-12 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown against Eastern Illinois. However, the junior Storey earned rave reviews after coming off the bench to complete 12-of-17 attempts for 261 yards and three scores and is taking the primary snaps with the first-team offense in practice this week. In his weekly Monday news conference, though, Morris declined to say which quarterback will start Saturday’s game. "Ty will get the first-team reps starting (Tuesday) in practice, and we'll re-evaluate things as practice goes," Morris said. "Ty got first-team reps at times last week, but Cole got the majority of them. This week, Ty will get the majority of them, and we'll make the decision later in the week how we're going to run this thing out there. Ty's earned that right right now."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network. LINE: Arkansas -13.5
ABOUT ARKANSAS (1-0): While the up-tempo passing game produced 353 yards and four TDs against the Panthers of the FCS, the Razorbacks’ ground game managed only 80 yards on 37 attempts, including 31 yards on 14 carries for the top two tailbacks, Devwah Whaley and Chase Hayden. As for the pass-catchers, wide receivers Jordan Jones and La’Michael Pettway reeled in a combined 10 passes for 225 yards and three TDs. Defensively, Arkansas forced six fumbles, recovering five, and was led by senior linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who recorded 10 total tackles, including two for losses, and forced a fumble.
ABOUT COLORADO STATE (0-2): The Rams have been on the wrong side of losses to Hawaii (43-34) and Colorado (45-13) so far and are seeking to avoid their first 0-3 start since 2010 when they wound up 3-9. Defense has been the major issue with Colorado State getting gashed for 44 points and 606.5 yards per game while surrendering 8.8 yards per play and an opponent completion percentage of 77.4. In trying to keep pace, senior transfer K.J. Carta-Samuels has thrown for 713 yards and six TDs with wideouts Olabisi Johnson and Preston Williams combining for 27 catches, 476 yards and five TDs.
EXTRA POINTS
1. Arkansas leads the series 3-0 with all three games being played in Little Rock, but the two schools haven’t met since 1990.
2. It will mark the first time the Razorbacks have faced a Mountain West Conference in a true road game, and Arkansas will be only the second SEC team to visit Fort Collins after Mississippi State in 1981.
3. Colorado State, which is 2-12 against current SEC members, also faces a SEC team the following Saturday when the Rams play at Florida.
PREDICTION: Arkansas 38, Colorado State 23