Gene Chizik talks to the media on the telephone

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It's been a busy day here at AUBlog headquarters.

We've spent the majority of the day working on stories for our first of eight Saturday "tailgater" sections. We wrote a biggie about the new Auburn head coach (Gene Chizik) and there's a bunch of other cool stuff. You'll be able to read some of the content online, but a lot more fun stuff will be in the print edition. If you're in town for Saturday's game, look for a copy.

Schtick out of the way, let's discuss some menial content that we gathered today during the writing firestorm.

Chizik addressed any reporter lucky enough to snag a passcode -- we barely were -- for the first SEC teleconference of the season. He answered three questions.

Such is life when you're second from last on the docket and are sandwiched between Mississippi State's Dan Mullen and Kentucky's Rich Brooks.

Here's the transcript.

(What do you see as your team's biggest strength?)
I think we've got good team speed. I'm not sure that depth-wise we're where we want to be but I think we've got some good speed in the secondary. I think defensively we've got some speed guys, guys that can run. We've had a really, really good eight months, a good offseason and a great camp. I think the team is willing to work and I think that's huge because we're going to have some growing pains. I like their attitude and I like their mentality and our team speed is something we obviously have to build on, but I think our team speed, at least one deep all the way around, I think our team speed is good so I think that's a plus, certainly in this league.

(How important is it to get off to a fast start?)
I think it's very important. I don't think it's going to be the tell-tale sign for what's going to happen the rest of the year, one way or the other, whether we play well or we don't play some well, we'll at least know where we're at. Obviously for confidence issues and things of that nature, starting off fast is very important. On all sides of the ball we need to be able to start fast. I think just think for a lot of reasons it is important. Again, I don't think it's going to make or break the season with a fast start but it certainly makes things a little bit easier because you can go back and say 'This is what we've been saying' and you can see the results have been favorable. When you can do that early, it can help propel yourself into the next game. If you can't, it doesn't mean it's the end of all the world but you have to go back to work and gain the confidence of your team. So I think it's an important deal.

(What have you learned about opening games?)
Opening games are different because it's almost overkill because you've got so much film you've watched over the summer and preseason and you've watched just about every game, which is sometimes a little bit too much, believe it or not. You're trying to gauge exactly what they're going to do, you're not really sure what their personality is, specifically you're not sure what these new individuals can and can't do that have taken the place of the seniors that have left. So there's a lot of guesswork in there. So what I've learned is that you've got to go in with your base stuff and you've got to be really, really sound in trying to execute that. Definitely in the kicking game. I think that's where you've got to be really really concerned because there's more mistakes in the opening game on the kickoff of an opening season with your punt returners and your kickoff returners and guys handling the ball. There's more issues on opening day if you look around on special teams than there are on anything. So al those things are a concern right now on opening day. You've just got to be sound on what you do and you've got to work your plan. Base stuff, being good at executing it and being sound in the special teams are the things I've seen over the last couple years. They matter on opening day.