We had a bunch of interviews with players late tonight. I'll just get straight to the bullet points.

• I know the picture has nothing to do with the headline, but I thought it was a good shot. Kudos to Ledger-Enquirer photographer Robin Trimarchi for the photo.

• Demond Washington seemed eager to move to safety, one of the few positions he's never played in his life. He said he got up at 5:30 a.m. today to start watching film and learn the position. "It's a lot different because like at corner, you're basically receiving the call, but at safety you're giving the call," he said. "You got to read the defense and know what you're going to do."

• Daren Bates, now the seasoned veteran of the safeties with all of nine games of experience under his belt, said it will be tough not have Zac Etheridge back there to help him out. "It’s gonna be hard," he said. "It was hard being without him that first play, knowing I didn’t have that No. 4 beside me for the rest of the game. As a person and a player I knew I had to step up and play. I know that’s what he’d want me to do."

• Bates has an increased leadership role now, a pretty tall task for a true freshman. "It’s tough," he said. "I’m not used to something like this. I’m not used to telling the older guys what to do or going out in that type of environment. Usually I’m waiting to see what Zac is going to do or asking him something but now I got to go out and point my finger and tell people this and that and have them look up to me."

• Many Auburn players had the word “Shhhh” written on their wrists Saturday. It was the team’s latest motivational ploy, the brainchild of wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor. “Basically just be quiet and let our actions speak louder than our words,” linebacker Josh Bynes said. “When you think about it, we started 5-0 and I don’t know (if) we were cocky or arrogant. We were talking about it, but we weren’t being about it.”

• The players loved it when Etheridge surprised them by walking into the meeting room today. "Man, it was a blessing," defensive end Antonio Coleman said. "When it happened, I texted him that night, I texted him the next morning, we've been texting back and forth ever since. It's just a blessing to see him walk in with a smile on his face and just telling us to go out and play football, continue on. I know he wants to be with us, but he's going through a tough time right now. But I think he's holding on real well."

• Cornerback Walt McFadden took the shtick a step further, writing “Shhhh” on his finger on the inside of his glove, although that just caused confusion. “I wasn’t even saying the ‘Shhhh’ part because I was trying to get people to read it,” he said, mimicking the situation by holding his finger up to his mouth. “And they were like, ‘Why won’t you say, “Shhhh?”’ So I kind of felt (ridiculous) doing it.”

• Auburn's been pretty bad on third-and-short situations. Don't think that's lost on offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn. "There's a lot of different things," he said. "The bottom line is we've got to be better in that situation. We do have a solid line and a solid back so we need to find a way to get that done. Of course fourth down also, that was a big play. Anytime your head coach allows you to go on fourth down, you've got to make the most of it and we didn't do that. And we'll be working extremely hard and that will be a point of emphasis in practice this week."

• Malzahn went through the list of quarterbacks who haven't seen the field this year and what they're up to. Here's the roll call:

• On Tyrik Rollison: "Well, I think any competitor at first when they're not playing and they're used to playing, they have a little bit of a lull. But probably in the last three or four weeks he's really come on and you can tell he's mentally into it and starting to develop and starting to do the things he needs to do to get better. So I've been very encouraged with that."

• On Barrett Trotter: "He's just now getting released and just now starting to do individual and all that. He's coming along and it's probably been really good for him to be on the sideline from a coach's standpoint. I really feel like that will help him in the future understand the offense and what's going on the sidelines and what we're thinking on the plays and all that."

• On Clint Moseley: "Of course, he's on the scout team and the defensive coaches rant and rave about him. He's a big, physical guy that's going to be a very solid guy here at Auburn."

• Auburn doesn't know if RB Onterio McCalebb (ankle) will play this week, but the coaches do want to get him healthy. "I think any time you get rest, you're going to get better," Malzahn said. "That was kind of the plan last week and we'll see how it goes this week. When he's 100 percent, he's a big weapon. There's no doubt and he proved that in the early part of the year. When he's not -- he's a speed guy. And when you're a speed guy you need to be 100 percent."

• RB Ben Tate on his long touchdown run Saturday, when he thought he was going to get caught from behind: "I kind of hurt my hamstring at the end of the run. I kind of slowed down, so that's why I thought I was going to get caught, but once I got to the 5, I thought if somebody's going to jump on me now, they're going to take this ride into the end zone."

• Tate thinks the offense is very running back friendly. "I think this tells the running backs that they're recruiting that they're going to run the ball and this offense is suited for a guy my size, a bigger type back," he said. "It doesn't have to be a little guy."

• Tate said a whole bunch of the older players on the team knew that Terrell Zachery was going to have a breakout year. "We've been knowing that T-Zach can do things, but when you're just a player you can't voice your opinion, your opinion doesn't matter," he said. "It's up to the coaches. I bet you you can ask a handful of guys, a bunch of guys on the team that have been here since T-Zach has been here, we all know he can play. We asked him, 'Were you doing something wrong? Were you doing this or that?' But you can't really get into that because you're not supposed to and it really isn't any of your business, but we all knew he could play. He's just getting his opportunity."

• For those who are curious. here are Auburn's payouts to non-conference teams that played at Jordan-Hare Stadium this year (Auburn typically generates $3 to $4 million in revenue per home game, athletics director Jay Jacobs said this summer):

• Louisiana Tech: $750,000
• Ball State: $800,000
• West Virginia: $350,000
• Furman: $375,000

• Linebacker Josh Bynes thinks the four down linemen have been the key to getting to the quarterback, especially Coleman, who disregarded Bynes' advice on one play. "There was a play I was telling them to watch the screen and A.C. looked back and said, ‘Forget the screen, I’m gonna go get this quarterback,'" Bynes said. "The next play he got the sack. ... When you got a guy like that who can come off the edge and make plays I trust in him and believe anything he tells me he can do.

• Coleman corroborated the story. "I was like, 'I'm not watching the screen. You watch the screen and I'm going to hit No. 4.' I guess he thought I was joking or something, but when I told him that, the same play I went and sacked the quarterback. So at least I'm a man of my word."

• With all the hubbub going on about Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes' eye-gouging incident, we asked Bynes if any extracurricular activities go on underneath the pile. "Actually, I haven’t ran across anything like that since I’ve been playing college football," he said. "Of course, that’s something that shouldn’t occur and I think that’s real childish and out of hand. That’s something that the NCAA, they’ve got to handle that. I’m not worried about it. That’s something that’s uncalled for, especially when you’re playing a game. We’re out there having fun. At the same time you want to win. I think all the other stuff is uncalled for. Whatever he did, put his hands in the facemask, that’s really uncalled for and unnecessary. That’s not a football play."