We're currently at an Outback Bowl luncheon at the Tampa Convention Center, where plenty of Tampa-area big hitters are here to eat and socialize in the presence of both teams. There's free food involved, so naturally we sportswriters are here.

ANYWAY, here are some quick notes after Auburn's morning practice:

• Head coach Gene Chizik thought it was another good practice. That makes two good practices so far; one mediocre one; two to go. "I felt like the tempo was up," Chizik said. "It was a little shorter today because of some of the events. We're coming down to the end of the week anyway. This was our Wednesdayish practice for game week. Good work today. I think we're going in the right direction."

• More Chizik practice talk: "We've got to narrow down the focus during the last couple of days. Every practice since our first one has been better. The focus was there today. The focus was there yesterday. We're starting to narrow back down to the mindset that it's game week and we need to get going."

• Linebacker Josh Bynes thinks the defense has been better since the Arkansas game. "We came with a mindset that we're going to come after the other time," he said. "We were tired of hearing everybody saying this defense isn't good. We came up with a great scheme. Our whole mentality is: Three downs. That's all we've been thinking about for the second half of the season. They only get three downs. That's what we've been doing throughout the second half. If you saw the Alabama game, we were shutting them down with no problems."

• The Tigers continued their full itinerary of events, going to Busch Gardens yesterday. Plenty of rollercoasters were enjoyed. "Some guys were scared," Bynes said. "Mike G.[the blog will protect his anonymity] was kind of scared. He was screaming. You didn't hear that from me. There were a lot of guys scared to get on rides, but we had a great time. It was fun."

• Busch Gardens has plenty of animals, too, as these photos prove (the players look extremely cautious in the presence of this serval):

• From a beat writer perspective, we enjoyed a suite at a Tampa Bay Lightning game last night (free of charge!). The Lightning won, we enjoyed some adult beverages and hot dogs. Everybody had a good time. Here are a few photos for those who care. Back with more a little later.