When a 71-year old coach in his 50th season calls a team “old-fashioned,” it is absolutely a term of endearment.

That was the case last week when Nick Saban began discussing what he’d seen on film from Kansas State ahead of Saturday’s Sugar Bowl.

“We’re going to play a really good team that plays, sort of, old-fashioned,” he said Dec. 16 in Tuscaloosa. “Tough, very disciplined, well-coached.”

In an age of college football where teams such as Alabama have shifted intentionally toward spread offenses built around quarterbacks and wide receivers, Kansas State is, to some degree, a relic.

Among the coaches on Chris Klieman’s staff is Brian Lepak, a former offensive lineman whose title is “fullbacks/tight ends.” Although you rarely will see K-State use a fullback or ever line up in the Wishbone, it’s a team with an identity still firmly planted as being physical and run-oriented.

“It’s been a staple of K-State for as long as I remember,” said offensive lineman Cooper Beebe, a Kansas City native. “A lot of times, we’re going to win with physicality. We’re not like the other Air Raid offenses. That’s now how we work. We try to out-physical teams. That’s how we’ve had success.”

Offensive coordinator Collin Klein, the Big 12′s offensive player of the year in 2012 as K-State’s quarterback, does not mind being a little bit old school as a play caller.

“I think a lot of people get caught up in trying to out-scheme and get too flashy and too complicated,” he said Thursday in New Orleans. “But how do we truly fundamentally develop our players to be the best they can and get better? That’s what makes scheme come to life. If that’s old-fashioned, then I’m old-fashioned.”

The biggest challenge for Alabama’s defense will be Kansas State running back Deuce Vaughn, an Associated Press first-team All-American as an all-purpose player. The 5-foot-6, 176-pound bowling ball is 12th in the nation in averaging 139 all-purpose yards per game, and 13th in rushing yards with 1,425.

“They have a little guy, No. 22,” Saban said Thursday night on his “Hey Coach” radio show. “You talk about heart and soul? You want to be an athlete? Be like him as a competitor. He’s about 5-6. I don’t know how much he weighs.

“But he’s as good of a competitor, pound for pound, as anybody we’ve played against. He’s a good receiver, he’s a good runner. He’s not very big, but he doesn’t play small, I can tell you that.”

Saban’s praise of Vaughn spilled over into his Friday morning news conference.

“I think pound for pound, he’s probably one of the best players, greatest competitors, toughest guys,” he said. “There’s no one that we play against all year long that has better competitive character.”

Alabama’s defense is preparing for the challenge of taking down a player so small.

“He has a low center of gravity, so it’s going to be a little bit hard to tackle him,” safety Brian Branch said last week. “But we go against good backs here all the time, so practice makes perfect.”

Added linebacker Will Anderson: “We don’t have any players that small. But some of them are little in size, so we’ve been getting good looks.”

Like most K-State players, Vaughn was lightly-recruited out of high school, ranking No. 157 by 247 Sports among all Texas players in the 2020 class.

The Wildcats’ quarterback for most of November and its Big 12 championship game win over TCU was Will Howard, who was No. 888 nationally in his class. Howard will start Saturday’s game although opening-day starter Adrian Martinez, a transfer from Nebraska, could see playing time after returning from a leg injury.

“Martinez is a very athletic guy. Probably the better runner of the two. [Howard] is probably the better passer,” Saban said Thursday night. “They play really with either quarterback. Their style changes a little bit. There’s more quarterback runs when [Martinez] plays, where [Howard] is probably a little bit more diverse as a passer, although both guys are capable of throwing the ball. They have a little more balance when [Howard] is in the game.”

Howard, the junior from Pennsylvania, agrees.

“I feel like we kind of that mentality that we want to control the line of scrimmage, and we want to play that smash-mouth football,” he said. “But we can also spread it out a little bit, playing empty and do those kind of things. I feel like our versatility offensively is a big-time tool for us.

“That scares people, just our ability to do a lot of different things.”

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.