TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — If you’ve ever seen the movie Slap Shot (1977 staring Paul Newman), you’re already well familiar with the line about “Old-time hockey … Toe Blake, Dit Clapper, Eddie Shore, those guys were the greats!”

Well, the University of Alabama’s game Saturday at Arkansas is being billed as old-time football, and the Crimson Tide can’t wait (6 p.m. ET, ESPN).

“I never thought that I would be here as a coach, in my lifetime as a coach, that running regular, I-formation plays and running the ball out of regular two wide receivers, two backs out of the backfield, would be the anomaly of football,” Coach Nick Saban said. “We have not played, I don’t think, a dozen snaps of regular defense all year long.

“But this is … Back to the Future is really, kind of, a good way to say it. This is really old-fashioned, hard-nosed, Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes kind of football. That’s something that is going to be different for our players and our preparation. In fact it’s so different during the bye week we spent a day on trying to review regular defense that we don’t ever seem to play.”

Every offense Alabama has faced so far this season has used a spread, hurry-up, no-huddle scheme, although Ole Miss didn’t speed things up this past week.

Not Arkansas (4-2, 0-2 SEC), which is the exact antithesis of that type of football. In a perfect world, every game would be played in the mud, which is fitting considering the Razorbacks nickname.

“Yes, we definitely like the opportunity to be physical up front, smash-mouth football,” sophomore defensive end Jonathan Allen said. “I think that’s what Alabama’s built on.”

Led by running backs Alex Collins (86 carries, 621 yards), and Jonathan Williams (66, 486), Arkansas leads the SEC in rushing and is 13th in passing. Everyone on the offensive line except the center is at least 6-foot-5, and it averages 328 pounds per player.

Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide is first in rushing defense and total defense. Defensive linemen A’Shawn Robinson, Brandon Ivory, Darren Lake, Jarran Reed and Joshua Frazier all over 300 pounds.

“It’s been a while,” junior linebacker Reggie Ragland said about facing a team that will try and power its way though the interior. “They run the ball, so have to be ready to strap it up and be ready to physical football.”

Even though No. 7 Alabama (4-1, 1-1 SEC) passes a lot more than Arkansas, the players expect things to be just as tough on the other side as well.

“I expect it to be physical as always and I expect them to come out and play their best game because like the coaches say, when it comes to Alabama everybody is going to want to beat you,” senior fullback Jalston Fowler said. “They can lose the rest of their games all season, but when it comes to us, they’re going to want to beat us.”