It was a long climb for Pete Ruzicka, but he's enjoying the view from the top.

Or at least, for the time being, from the No. 2 spot.

The Cranberry Township resident is a third-string safety for Auburn, which is tied with Oklahoma at No. 2 in the country behind the University of Southern California entering Saturday's game at Alabama.

The Seneca Valley graduate saw action in one game last year as a redshirt freshman, but this year he's played three games for the undefeated Tigers (10-0).

"Things have been going well. It's nice to see hard work getting noticed," said Ruzicka.

The 6-foot, 205 pound Ruzicka played in wins against University of Louisiana-Monroe (31-0), The Citadel (33-3) and Kentucky (42-10).

Walking on to a Southeast Conference school hasn't been easy, but Ruzicka is making the adjustment.

"It's not that intimidating," said Ruzicka. "After a while, you become friends with them and after a while, you pick things up.

"Everything happens for a reason. I'm not as fast as everyone here, but I work just as hard," he added.

With two starting safeties, Ruzicka is playing behind Junior Rosegreen, Donnay Young, Will Herring and Steve Gandy.

"The way it's set up, we have safeties that can play either way, so there are four ahead of me," Ruzicka said.

"I was kind of expecting, well, hoping to play more with all the work I've put in, but you never know around here. Anyone can jump in with recruiting freshmen."

Auburn enters Saturday's game on a 12-game winning streak, just the third time in school history that has occurred.

The other two 12-game streaks were in 1993 and 1957, the latter being the national championship team.

Auburn is 7-0 in the SEC, has clinched the West Championship and will face the East champion for a possible national championship showdown should the Tigers win.

"The team is trying to take one game at a time and go from there," said Ruzicka. "After last week's game against (No. 6 ranked) Georgia, we knew they were one of the top teams we've played.

"If you lose one game, no one would talk to us. We're taking the philosophy of one game at a time and let the polls take care of themselves," he added.

What helped thrust the Tigers into the national championship chase was its 10-9 victory over then No. 5 Louisiana State University in the third week of the season.

"No doubt, we knew that game would be a huge game for us," said Ruzicka. "We knew we had LSU early in the season, and getting that win was a big momentum swing for us. That helped us. They were the co-national champions last year (with USC)."

Ruzicka hopes in the next two years to see his playing time increase and play a larger role with the team.

He doesn't know if the role will be there, but he knows the effort will be.

"The more time you put in, the more the coaches notice," said Ruzicka. "When you're a freshman walk-on, you don't get as many looks from the coach as a scholarship player.

"That's the key: sticking with it and getting the opportunities. So far, I've been getting around to playing."