Auburn football: Bryan Harsin was ‘maybe coaching his last game or two’ vs. UGA

Anybody that watched Auburn football battle Georgia on October 8 Between the Hedges was watching two programs going in completely different directions whose 2021 and 2022 seasons cannot possibly differ any more than they have.

In the red corner, you have the defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs who are back on top of the AP Poll following a Week 6 in which Alabama barely escaped Texas A&M at home. Kirby Smart has built a sustainable contender in Athens that is likely to contend for titles in the years to come.

Then, in the orange and blue corner, you have an Auburn football program that has a losing record under head coach Bryan Harsin that couldn’t even cover a four-touchdown spread against their second-greatest rival.

The game between the two was painful for Tiger fans, but there could be a silver lining — that being that it could be one of the final games Harsin coaches, at least according to Paul Finebaum on Sunday’s edition of “SportsCenter” (h/t AL.com):

"“(Georgia) looked good, but they were playing Auburn, which is the most listless team in America with Bryan Harsin maybe coaching his last game or two as the Auburn coach.”"

Why Bryan Harsin could stick around as Auburn football coach until the end of the 2022 season

Paul Finebaum, at this point, is more of a national talking head than someone in touch with what is going on in the state of Alabama. When he says Bryan Harsin is coaching his final game, that is more conjecture and to even potentially get more eyeballs on the ESPN broadcast of Ole Miss-Auburn on October 15.

Truthfully, Harsin sticking around until the end of the season — a possibility On3’s Justin Hokanson floated ahead of the Georgia beatdown — comes down to there being no athletic director at the moment as well as the potential buyout for the Boise native.

This season is arguably lost already, so saving money on the buyout, while also saving face for giving the second-year head coach a longer leash, is a good PR move and one that’d benefit the program’s bottom line at the end of the day.