BLAWGIN' FOR YOUR NOGGIN: Gene Chizik speaks

Hey everyone. You know what's coming.

• He has arrived.
  
  
• ``It'll be a fun day and a very challenging weekend."
  
  
• On Ole Miss: ``They're probably the most balanced team we've played to date. They're solid all the way around."
  
  
• General comments: ``I'm really proud of this group. The mark of the men is coming out. They have been phenomenal. They really want to be a good football team. They've been excellent. Our seniors have really stepped up to the plate and are ready to move past next week and move on to the next game."
  
  
• On offensive troubles: ``I don't think there's one thing you can pinpoint. It's everywhere. It's a little breakdown here and a little breakdown there. What seemingly would be little things are big things. We're not panicking by any stretch of the imagination. We have to get better at what we do. The level of competition has gone up. You can't just pin it on one guy."
  
  (BLOGGER'S NOTE: Actually, you can pin it on one guy if you'd like. It happens all the time. Ask Jim Zorn about it.)
  
  
• On Hot Carter: ``You don't know until you're banging on those guys all night long. It's really good to see him being back close to what he was during the spring before the injury. We need him. With our situation at defensive end, the most depth we can build up, the better."
  
  
• He admires Kodi Burns for playing after having two teeth knocked out. ``I talked to our team about that kind of courage and that mark of a man. He's special."
  
  
• On not practicing Sunday: ``I thought it was great timing for us to say: Let's take time on the film. Let's take time on the mental part of the game. We took our time. I thought it would be better to have a mental day with film work from the game. The response was great."
  
  
• Concerned about dissention?: "If there was any of that finger pointing going on, yeah. But they don't want to go through that again. You can choose to be different. There is absolutely zero of that (arguing) going on. They've chosen to go in another direction."
  
  
• On the complexities of Chris Todd's job: ``People want to pin all the great stuff on the quarterback and all the bad stuff on the quarterback. That's at any level. This is the most widely recognized league in the country, so it magnifies that. That's what makes the league great. The positions comes with what it comes with. In Chris' case right now, I don't think he pays much attention to it. When it's 3rd-and-7 and he has five guys in his lap, that's not Chris Todd."
  
  
• On reaffirming his commitment to Todd: ``He gives us the best chance to win. He needs to know that we have a vote of confidence in him. He knows that."
  
  
• More on Todd's situation: ``Quarterback's got to be a tough-minded position. It all comes with the territory. If you're not mentally tough enough to get through those things, more than likely you don't need to be playing in this league. You get the good and you get the bad."
  
  
• On Dex McCluster: "He is a very good player. Now it's not just Wildcat. It's not just receiver. He's your dotted-I tailback. He hits a crease and he's gone. That's something they're hitting on now. He plays at a whole different speed."
  
  
• That's a wrap.