11/04 at 12:26 AM

After nine consecutive games, including three of the last four on the road to top-10 teams, it’s past time for a break.

Not just from the games, but from the routine, from each other, from the grind.

“Yes. No question,” Auburn head coach Gene Chizik said. “Everybody’s got different ideas, but my idea is that they do — that they need to get away.”

Auburn will hold an early-morning walkthrough Friday and then let players have the rest of the weekend off until they reconvene Sunday to start preparations for Georgia.

It’ll be a chance for most players to go home for the first time since preseason camp started in August.

A chance to recharge for the final stretch of the season — for Amen Corner.

“They need to go spend the weekend with their families. Most of our guys are close enough to be able to do that,” Chizik said. “We encourage them to do that and go home and see their parents or their aunts and uncles or grandmas and grandpas.”

Chizik also wants his players to do something else: Watch football.

But not just for entertainment purposes. He wants them to see it from a different perspective and to understand how much of a privilege it is to play college football at this level.

“I try to get them to get away from it here and watch it over the weekend and look at these games and realize and embrace how lucky they are to have the same opportunities,” the head coach said. “Sometimes you don’t see that when you’re in the middle of it. You step back a little bit, you watch games unfold on TV and I think you have a greater appreciation for ‘that’s going to be me next week.’

There’s little question as to which game the players will be watching with No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama squaring off in primetime Saturday night.

Will Chizik be watching, too?

“I don’t know what games we’ll be watching, if we’ll watch any games,” Chizik said. “Like I said before, whatever game is playing, I’m sure that I’ll see it a bunch after this. So, we’ll take it day-by-day.”

Blake getting better
Despite being less than 100 percent last Saturday, Emory Blake knew he was going to play against Ole Miss after missing the previous three games — or at least all but two snaps — because of a high ankle sprain.

He also knew he could contribute.

“I was pretty comfortable coming back,” said the junior wide receiver, who was injured late in the South Carolina game on Oct. 1. “Just doing this for so long, I felt comfortable and confident and I think it kind of showed on the field.”

It sure did.

Blake led the Tigers with five catches for 71 yards and a touchdown against the Rebels.

Blake played two snaps against Florida in the second half but wasn’t targeted. He even dressed out for the LSU game but didn’t see the field.

“I was there as a leader just to dress out and kind of to see how I felt, but I knew I wasn’t going to start or play a lot, even if I did play a little,” Blake said.

But against the Rebels, Blake knew he’d get his chance to get on the field.

“I practiced all week,” he said, “and I felt good coming into the game that I was going to play.”

Blake, despite his time out with injury, still leads the Tigers in receptions with 24 for 404 yards and five touchdowns.

Something ‘boiling’ on the D-line
Mike Pelton wasn’t shy when talking about the potential of freshman defensive tackle Devaunte Sigler, who was moved to the inside position after playing defensive end in high school.

“That kid is just so athletic. He kind of surprised me of how well he just transitioned to it. It looks like he’s been out there all season,” Auburn’s defensive line coach said. “He’s an athletic kid, that, once he finds his home, we got something boiling there.

“He’s going to be a name they talk about at Auburn for years to come, even when he’s gone.”

Sigler, at 6-foot-4, 275 pounds, has played in all nine games, recording nine total tackles and a sack.

Sigler hasn’t been the only freshman to catch Pelton’s eye. Gabe Wright got his first start of the season against Ole Miss, filling in for the “beat up” Kenneth Carter.

“(Gabe) did OK, but by no means, like I told him, has he arrived,” Pelton said of the first-year player from Columbus, Ga.’s Carver High, who had one tackle against the Rebels. “Him and Carter are still competing.”

Pelton said he held out Carter on Saturday to try to get him healed up after a physical first eight games.

“Kenneth hadn’t played well the last two weeks, and he was beat up,” Pelton said. “I told him before Ole Miss, if I can get away without playing you a lot, I’m going to try. It wasn’t a deal where I didn’t play him because I didn’t think he could handle it. He’s started (eight) games for us, so it was an opportunity for him to get rest, an opportunity to get him in the bye week, try to get him back healthy for this stretch.”