I’m glad Pat Dye wasn’t alive to see this. With his roots in Georgia and his legacy at Auburn, the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry moved him like no other, in a different way than the Iron Bowl, which he lifted to a level all its own.

Dye was born and raised in Georgia. He played at Georgia. He recruited Georgia the way the Auburn coach must if he wants to leave his mark. Georgia was never far from his mind.

Imagine what Dye would think today after Georgia 42, Auburn 10. The Tigers entered as four-touchdown underdogs and exited after failing to reach even those puny expectations, lower than UGa’s belly. Imagine what he would say after Georgia’s sixth straight win in the series, its ninth in the last 10, its eighth in a row in Athens.

Dye dropped his first two games against his alma mater before hitting his stride and his last two after losing his touch, his health a major contributor. In between he won seven of eight, but even in defeat, his Tigers never rolled over, backed down or got pushed around by the Dawgs. Auburn’s largest margin of defeat in this game under his command: 11 points.

Times have changed on the Plains.

Bryan Harsin has done nothing to justify his appointment as the Auburn coach and less to recommend he stay even one more week. He has altered an already disturbing narrative for the worse in what’s become the Deep South’s Saddest Rivalry. In two meetings, sure to be the entirety of his experience in the series, his Tigers have been out-everythinged by 24 and 32 points. The last Auburn coach to drop back-to-back battles with the Bulldogs by more than that 56-point crater was Carl Voyles in the 1940s.