Auburn's announced its 2009 football schedule. Here it is:

Sept. 5: LOUISIANA TECH
Sept. 12: MISSISSIPPI STATE
Sept. 19: WEST VIRGINIA
Sept. 26: BALL STATE
Oct. 3: at Tennessee
Oct. 10: at Arkansas
Oct. 17: KENTUCKY
Oct. 24 at Louisiana State
Oct. 31: OLE MISS
Nov. 7: FURMAN (Homecoming)
Nov. 14: at Georgia
Nov. 21: Open date
Nov. 28: ALABAMA

First impressions: That's the kind of September schedule you like to see, with four home games, although I'm sure Auburn never imagine Ball State would be a tough challenge when the game was scheduled.

Kind of a strange non-conference game in November, though I guess it's no different than the Tennessee-Martin game this year.

I feel like the conference road games are tougher than they are this year, even though I don't know what to expect out of Tennessee next season, especially if Phil Fulmer gets his walking papers.

Only one bye on the schedule (Nov. 21) with a later starting date than usual (Sept. 5). That means Auburn will have 11 straight weeks of games. If the Tigers are this banged up after seven straight games this year, what's it going to be like next year?