Auburn might now have won the Iron Bowl, coming up just short in a 26-21 loss to No. 2 Alabama on Friday. But head coach Gene Chizik thinks the Tigers have a great start on a bright future on the Plains.

"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."

Auburn won't find out its bowl fate for another week, after the conference championship games. So Chizik will instead turn his focus to recruiting.

"We're hitting right now," he said. "The bowl committees are going to do their thing. We've got great leadership. We want to give our kids and opportunity to play in the best bowl they can. They've earned that and deserve that."

Chizik said he met with recruits after the Tigers' close 26-21 Iron Bowl loss to No. 2 Alabama last night and this morning. He called the response "overwhelming."

With no game next week, Chizik said this week will be more about academics and rest before the team begins preparation for a bowl game.

"We are really going to focus on the academic world," he said. "We're going to give our guys some time to heal up. They're beat up and bruised up, guys playing with all kinds of injuries, give them an opportunity for bodies to heal and really focus on academic issues at hand."

Some other notes from today's teleconference ...

• Chizik said Auburn didn't capitalize enough on some field position opportunities last night that cost the Tigers in the end.

• There's a possibility Chizik could start doing in-home visits with recruits this week. "As long as it makes sense," he said. "Everything's about strategically planning, and it's all about timing."

• He's excited about the 15 practices Auburn will be granted leading up to the bowl game. "All those reps that accumulate over time can do nothing but help your football team," Chizik said.

• Chizik said Auburn is about 98 percent done with its recruiting evaluations and that the focus now is on finishing up a recruiting class rather than starting one up. "It's just a whole different ballgame," he said.