From Staff Reports / The Demopolis Times

AUBURN – The Auburn football team returned to the practice field on Thursday after more than three weeks off to begin preparations for the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl presented by Bridgestone.

The Tigers (7-5) will square off with Big Ten-foe Wisconsin (7-5) on Dec. 31 at 11 a.m. CST. The Badgers present a tough test for Auburn with their solid running game and athletic defense.

“They have a very physical, good offensive line, exactly what you expect from a good team in the Big Ten,” said defensive coordinator Gene Chizik. “Their running backs are capable of breaking long runs and are very powerful. At wide receiver, Lee Evans is everything he is hyped up to be.

“Wisconsin is where they are because they are good football team. They lost a couple of games by just a few points and could have very easily won 10 or 11 games this year. They are better than 7-5 indicates.”

Auburn practiced twice on Thursday as it began to shake off some of the rust from the layoff. The Tigers will go two more times on Friday and once on Saturday before breaking for the holidays.

“The players worked hard,” said offensive coordinator Hugh Nall. “The timing was not perfect. We had some things happen that I was disappointed with. But the tempo and the attitude were really good, especially for being off for three weeks.”