LIVE BLOG: Chizik presser

Welcome to Gene Chizik's weekly presser.

• Opening statement: "We're going to have to play a much better football ... to beat a ver, very good West Virginia team. This will get us another step in the direction of finding out how good we are."
  
  
• What do they have to work on?: "Special teams. We're putting ourselves 80 yards away on every kickoff return. That's glaring. Our punt-return issues -- those are glaring. Our coverage teams ... we're giving up too many hidden yards. We've got to measure every inch. Offensively and defensively, just the things you see."
  
  
• On the offense: ``We didn't know what to expect. We still don't know what to expect. We've only played two games."
  
  
• On complacency: ``I don't think that's who we're going to let them be ... and that's not who they really are. I don't know how a player could walk out (of a meeting) and feel good about it."
  
  
• On replacing Tommy Trott: "Tommy is day by day. We've got a plan." He also plans to give Lutzenkirchen a bigger role. Chizik also mentioned Gabe McKenzie.
  
  
• On fans who (allegedly) are penciling in Auburn as the Western Division champions: "They are? I didn't know they were." Goes on predictable rant about how Auburn fans are the greatest ever.
  
  
• On having four home games top open the season: ``It's a building block every week with a better team -- or a team that gives you different issues." He praised West Virginia for its speed.
  
  
• ``We're a work in progress. I'm not sure what we are yet."
  
  
• On Noel Devine: ``He's exactly what you look at -- you tackle him a few times, then the next thing you know he's hitting his head on the goal post."
  
  
• He says West Virginia is a good "run-fitting" team. Also praises the team's speed again. Chizik says it's a 3-4 deal.
  
  
• He loves the West Virginia quarterback. ``He brings a lot to the table for them."
  
  
• On if Auburn is an under-the-radar team: ``I don't know. We just do what we do."
  
  
• ``I think we're ready to play this type of game right now. Had we opened with them, I don't know if I had said that."
  
  
• On Ted Roof addressing Auburn's offense earlier this week: "It all ties in. Everybody's connected. For us to call a game defensively and feel like the offense can get us out of binds periodically -- that's very important. And you can flip it. It's a comforting feeling."
  
  
• On how the defense benefits from working against Malzahn's offense: ``It helps a lot. Our guys have been, for the most part, have been pretty good about being able to stand out there and survive -- considering how few backups we have."
  
  
• He likes the offensive line: ``When you rush for 390 yards, it's not all tailbacks. They have not arrived, but I think they're getting better. They're playing together. That's what I'm excited about."
  
  
• On Kodi Burns: ``He's an Auburn man. That's what he is. That's what we does. That's what we've been saying since Day One."
  
  
• That's a WRAP.
  

Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn University