TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Nick Saban missed the memo on this one.

The point of a trap game is for a supremely talented team to roll into a matchup against an upstart and get beaten after overlooking the lesser opponent. Saban flipped that analogy on its head Monday, acknowledging that Arkansas could be a “trap game” for the Crimson Tide.

“This is what I call a little bit of a trap game for us, in terms of all the folks out there (who) look at who they’ve played and what the scores were and don’t get prepared the way you need to get prepared to go play to your standard and the level you have to play to to beat any team in the SEC on the road,” Saban said.

That statement takes away the surprise element and removes the possibility of this being a trap game.

Sorry, Arkansas fans. This one will almost certainly be a bloodbath.

Saban has mastered the art of motivating his players to avoid letdowns. The championships are obvious, but the biggest thing that separates Saban from every coach in the country is the fact that Alabama doesn’t lose games they’re not supposed to lose.

Alabama has won 77 consecutive games against unranked teams under Saban, the longest streak in FBS history. Alabama’s last loss to an unranked team was 17-10 at the hands of Auburn on Nov. 24, 2007. That’s more than 10 years of dominating lesser opponents.

You won’t find a loss like Clemson had to Syracuse or Ohio State had to Iowa last season on Saban’s resume.

Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Arkansas (1-4, 0-2 SEC) is in a transition year under new coach Chad Morris. That’s the last place you want to be with Alabama coming into your building.

Saban noted the improvement the Razorbacks have made each week on both sides of the ball. He said the Hogs played their best game of the season in their loss to Texas A&M this past weekend. That won’t be enough to save them against Alabama, who is a five-touchdown favorite according to VegasInsider.com.

The good thing for Saban is that he has been preaching this message so long that the leadership group just regurgitates it to the young players.

“I look at every game as just another challenge,” linebacker Christian Miller said. “I don’t look records or numbers or … anytime I play a game, I just want to play my best game and do what I can to help the team, so I think that’s everybody’s approach. I think we just want to go into it, no matter of records or numbers, we just want to go into it and play our best game and play a complete game.”