Auburn ready to make final push in Arizona

[Saniflush]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/01/auburn_ready_to_make_final_pus.html

Auburn will finally practice in Arizona today for the BCS Championship Game. It's been a long wait. It's been exactly a month since the Tigers beat South Carolina in the SEC Championship Game. They still have a ways to go before meeting Oregon in the national championship game next Monday. But, at least they are here. We posted video of Auburn's arrival Monday night. We'll have a practice report from today in the early afternoon. Here's the newspaper story that appears Tuesday:

Auburn's seniors got the penthouse view of America when they flew on the top deck of the Tigers' Delta 747 charter to Arizona on Monday.

It was a fitting view for the No. 1 team in the nation.

The Tigers arrived to a red carpet welcome, complete with a mariachi band, and the players seemed pleased to have finally moved their practice venue closer to where they'll play Oregon in the BCS Championship Game next Monday.

"They've got a lot of energy. Very excited," said coach Gene Chizik.

Auburn landed in Phoenix, will practice in Scottsdale and play Oregon in Glendale next Monday for the national title Chizik won't need a map for that. He's successfully guided the Tigers around narrow wins and off-the-field distractions while allowing Heisman Trophy quarterback Cam Newton to lead the way.

The music had barely died down from the tarmac before Chizik was following his familiar path.

"This is a business trip," he said.

Oregon coach Chip Kelly said the same thing when the Ducks arrived Sunday, and that means neither team, faced with the prospect of waiting 37 days between games, will venture too far from the task at hand.

Chizik said Auburn has been up for such challenges this season.

"I think that's one of the reasons we're playing this game," he said. "I think one of the great things our coaches have done, our players have been able to do is no matter what the circumstances are...focus on what the task at hand is.

"I have to give our coaches a ton of credit, and our players a ton of credit, for being able to block out the time, distance, whatever the case may be, in terms of how far away the game is or what's going on on the outside."

Chizik still played it coy whether all his players are academically eligible, saying only all the players made the trip. By rule, however, ineligible players cannot travel with the team.

Auburn will begin its Arizona portion of practice today at Scottsdale Community College. Chizik will be looking for more of what he saw in Auburn.

"I think this has been a great two-and-a-half, three weeks of practice," he said. "You never know when you're going to get a chance to be here again. Hopefully, often, but you never know.

"I think our guys understand the importance of the game. I think coming here  makes it a little bit more realistic, because they understand it get closer."

It's the view from the top.

"Sometimes you try to read too much into the mood, what they look like, what they're thinking going into the game," Chizik said. "You can say, 'I'm not sure if we're ready and then you go into the game,' and they play like gangbusters. So we don't know how overrated or underrated that might be, to be honest with you. I do know that our team is extremely excited and I do know that they have prepared very well and have worked extremely hard in practice every day they do practice.

"In that regard, no different, no change than the previous 13 weeks."