We had one last brief interview today with Gene Chizik before the team heads to Tampa for the Outback Bowl. Here's a little bit of what he had to say (oh, and follow the blog on Twitter):

• The team wrapped up eight practices in 11 days. Chizik was pleased with what the Tigers got accomplished. "It was very productive, as far as the whole eight days of practice," he said. "Finished on a very good note today. I thought the last day being today, the focus was there. They did a nice job. Very productive two weeks."

• It's a team tradition to carry the senior players off the field after their final practice at Auburn. It happened for a few Tuesday. "Well, I saw some get carried off the field," Chizik said. "I don't know if they all did it. I know there were some. Some of them might be a little too heavy to carry off." We even have a photo too.
  

• Auburn did some minor game-planning for Northwestern today. It also did a lot of special teams work.

• Still no word on who might be the starting H-back. Eric Smith is academically ineligible and John Douglas and Jason King are suspended after getting DUIs this month. "Well, like I said earlier, we've got a really good plan without going into the details of it," Chizik said. "We're not changing anything. We've got a good plan of who's going to do what. The next guy always steps up to the plate. We're used to it. It's happened all year." Best guess: Philip Lutzenkirchen gets a good look in the role along with Mario Fannin.

• Chizik said Auburn came out of practice health. "We're not completely out of the woods yet with some of these injuries," he said. "There's still some nagging ones out there. For the most part, I think we're pretty healthy."

• As always with bowl games, the biggest balance is between going to win the game and have fun. Here's Chizik's take on the subject: "Our team knows that our goal is to go down there and win the game. They know we have to prepare and practice like we've always practiced. They want to end this season on a winning note. We're going to prepare well down there. I think they're locked in and focused on that idea. We also want to have it be a reward and some of the functions that they're able to do, it is a reward. There's a fine line in there. I hope we can find it. I feel good about the focus of our team. That's where it all starts."