The 2009 Auburn Tigers football team represented

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

during the

2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

. The Tigers were led by first year head coach

Gene Chizik Eugene C. Chizik Jr. (born December 28, 1961) is an American football coach who is currently the Assistant Head Coach for Defense at North Carolina. A veteran of the coaching ranks, Chizik previously was UNC's defensive coordinator for the 2015 ...

. Despite playing the 12th toughest schedule in the nation, the Tigers finished the season 8–5 (3–5 in SEC play) and won the

Outback Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, usually on New Year's Day. The event has been formerly called the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 to ...

38–35 in overtime against Northwestern. While Auburn was unranked at the end of the season in both major polls, several BCS participating computer rating systems such as Sagarin (#22), Massey (#22), Peter Wolfe (#25), Howell (#24), David Wilson (#21), Team Rankings (#18) and the FACT Foundation (#21) included the Tigers in their final top 25 rankings. The offense finished the season ranked 2nd in the SEC and 16th in the nation (with just under 432 yards per game), while the defense struggled with depth issues and finished 68th and 2nd worst in the SEC. The pass efficiency defense however was 3rd best in the SEC and ranked 22nd in the nation.

Coaching change

On December 3, 2008, Auburn University announced that 10-year head coach

Tommy Tuberville Thomas Hawley Tuberville ( ; born September 18, 1954) is an American retired college football coach and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Alabama since 2021. Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football co ...

would not return for an eleventh season. The coaching search ended less than two weeks later when Auburn announced Iowa State's second-year head coach and former Auburn defensive coordinator

as the Tigers' next head coach. Auburn had interviewed at least eight coaches, including Buffalo's

Turner Gill Turner Hillery Gill (born August 13, 1962) is an American college athletic administrator and former gridiron football player and coach. He is the Executive Director of Student-Athlete and Staff Development at the University of Arkansas, a positi ...

and TCU's

Gary Patterson Gary Allen Patterson (born February 13, 1960) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the special assistant to the head coach at the University of Texas. He is the former head football coach at Texas Christian University ...

Schedule

Auburn's schedule consisted of eight

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

opponents (four home, four away) and four non-conference opponents. Auburn opened the season against

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

. It was the twelfth matchup between the schools and the first meeting since 2004. The Tigers also hosted

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

opponent Ball State for the third time. Also,

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

foe Furman visited for the first time since 1956. Auburn began conference play in the second week, hosting

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

. The following week, the Tigers hosted

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, the second game in a home-and-home series between the two teams. The Tigers had previously faced all twelve regular season opponents, with Auburn holding the all-time series lead going into the season against all but

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

(33–39–1), LSU (19–23–1), and West Virginia (0–1).

Depth chart

Starters and backups.

Rankings

Coaching staff

*Entering season

Game summaries

Louisiana Tech

*Source:''
Louisiana Tech vs. Auburn - College Football Box Score - September 5, 2009

Mississippi State

*Source:''
Mississippi State vs. Auburn - College Football Box Score - September 12, 2009

West Virginia

*Source:''
West Virginia vs. Auburn - College Football Game Recap - September 19, 2009

Ball State

*Source:''
Ball State vs. Auburn - College Football Box Score - September 26, 2009

Tennessee

*Source:''
Auburn vs. Tennessee - College Football Game Recap - October 3, 2009

Arkansas

*Source:''
Auburn vs. Arkansas - College Football Box Score - October 10, 2009

Kentucky

*Sources:''
Kentucky vs. Auburn - College Football Box Score - October 17, 2009

LSU

*Sources:''
Auburn vs. LSU - College Football Box Score - October 24, 2009

Ole Miss

*Sources:''
Ole Miss vs. Auburn - College Football Box Score - October 31, 2009

Furman

*Sources:''
Furman vs. Auburn - College Football Box Score - November 7, 2009

Georgia

*Sources:''
Auburn vs. Georgia - College Football Box Score - November 14, 2009

Alabama

*Sources:''
Alabama vs. Auburn - College Football Box Score - November 27, 2009

Northwestern

*Sources:''
Northwestern vs. Auburn - College Football Box Score - January 1, 2010

References

{{Auburn Tigers football navbox

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

Auburn Tigers football seasons ReliaQuest Bowl champion seasons

Auburn Tigers football The Auburn Tigers football program represents Auburn University in the sport of American college football. Auburn competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division o ...