AUBURN, Ala. — Gene Chizik held his weekly press conference. Very short one today. Here are some quick notes from what he said:

* “I think we made some baby steps Saturday in being a better football team, but so many more strides to go.”

* On winning close games: “I think our guys are willing to fight to the end. … Our players trust that we’re going to give them a plan to win.”

* “It’s really hard to close those games out if you haven’t done it, but we’ve repeatedly done it.”

* Said last year’s Clemson game is when team really started believing it could win close games.

* Clemson is a solid team. “That game really opened our eyes to what playing physical football needed to be.”

* Said there are a lot of similarities in the offenses of Gus Malzahn and Clemson coordinator Chad Morris, one of his proteges. “Both teams face it every day in practice. I don’t think it’s going to be anything revolutionary.”

* Chizik was a GA at Clemson back in 1988-89. “It’s a great place with great people. Very similar to Auburn.”

* Said team has focused on third down issues on both sides of the ball. “We’ve got to execute on those downs. We’ll know more this Saturday.”