I wrote a story for today's newspaper following up Auburn's Iron Bowl loss to Alabama. Here's how it starts:

AUBURN, Ala. — Gene Chizik left Jordan-Hare Stadium Friday night conflicted with emotions, disappointed by Auburn’s narrow 26-21 loss to No. 2 Alabama in the Iron Bowl’s final minutes yet encouraged by the step the program has made in the year since he became coach.

Ultimately, the latter was more impactful.

“I’m satisfied with us working toward building a foundation for what we know is going to be great here,” Chizik said during a Saturday teleconference. “I don’t think there’s any question in my mind that we’ve done that.

“Are there some games like yesterday where we wish we could have pulled out? There’s no question about it. But we have a chance for eight wins in our first year, but more importantly what we have set down is a foundation for a very, very bright future here. There’s no question in our mind about that. I think that was evident to everybody yesterday.”

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