Not a whole lot from today's SEC teleconference, but here are few items from the portions with Auburn's Gene Chizik and Georgia's Mark Richt:

• One of the biggest keys to Auburn's offense is picking up first downs. Duh, right? But it's a matter of stringing them together, which is when the pace begins to wear on a defense. "I think one of the advantages of the offense is if you are clicking, and I think that's the operative word -- 'if' -- because if you're not your defense is on the field for a long time, and then you have to be able to manage the pace as the game goes on simply to play in the hands of your defense," Chizik said. "But if it's clicking and if you're getting first downs, and that's the goal obviously is to get first downs in this offense, but if you can get first downs, that obviously has a huge impact on the rest of the game."

• "Can it wear a defense down? Yes it can," Chizik said. "Have we done that all year? No. Not necessarily, but when it is operating on all cylinders then you have a chance to wear defenses down, yes."

• No update on RB Onterio McCalebb, who is still day-to-day. "Those ankle injuries are just very nagging," Chizik said. "Some days it looks like he may be ready and other days it doesn't.

• Asked about two-sport athletes, Chizik isn't against the idea at all, with one disclaimer: "Can they help both sports win?" he said. If they can, he'd encourage it.

• Chizik was asked about the high number of players on the roster who have already received their degrees. Eight Auburn players have already graduated, tied for the fifth-most in the nation. "Is it an inspiration to the other guys? Oh, without question," he said. "I don't think there's any doubt about it. But it says a lot for the institution. It says a lot for our academic people and where they are with graduating our players. And for these guys to be able to do that, that's just a great credit to them because they've really had to put in a lot of time and hard work in the summer. It's year-round. There's no summer off. But our goal is to keep those guys on track to graduate before they get done playing here. That's the goal."

• Richt talked about running back Washaun Ealey's emergence. The freshman impressed during training camp but injured his elbow and seemed like he'd be a redshirt candidate. "But as he got healthy again, he started running on our inside drills and doing things on the scout team, he looked so impressive that we said, 'You know what, we need to get this kid in the game,'" Richt said. "And we did and he's been running the ball well, he's been improving rapidly in his protection and route running skills and we have high hopes for him. He's really made some improvement and I think he is ready to take off, I hope."

• Ealey is second on the team with 55 carries for 289 yards this year, with two touchdowns. "He's a ballplayer," Richt said. "If they're competitors and they care and they're willing to put the work in, they can pick it up. And then if you've just got some natural ability that when the ball's in your hands you tend to just do it instinctively, that helps a lot too. And he's got a lot of that in him."