AUBURN | Not getting blown out at Ole Miss almost felt like a win for Auburn.

That’s the current state of the program, which is now 9-11 under Bryan Harsin including 4-11 against Power 5 opponents.

That doesn’t come close to meeting Gus Malzahn’s definition of solid.

Being blown out on the road, even at Ole Miss, has become the expectation. And I’m quite sure that’s what just about everybody was prepared for when the Rebels went up 21-0 two plays into the second quarter.

So give these players and, yes, the coaching staff credit for fighting back and making a game of it. Harsin and his staff have made a lot of wrong moves over the past 22 months but nobody should question their ability to get Auburn’s players to give effort.

There’s no quit in this team and that deserves recognition.

I guess credit is also due to the offensive staff, which finally discovered how to run the ball in the SEC. It only took seven weeks. Good job, guys.

It’s probably no coincidence that Saturday was also Jeremiah Wright’s first start at left guard. What a great find. Who would have guessed the third-team guard was actually AU’s best interior run blocker.

But enough about the offense. They got better this week and that’s a positive sign.

The biggest concern, other than being 131st out of 131 teams in turnover margin, is a defense that has completely come off the rails.

Auburn has now allowed an average of 33.2 points in five games against Power 5 opponents. That includes 41 to Penn State, 42 to Georgia and 48 to Ole Miss.

A once proud and tough defense under Kevin Steele, Rodney Garner and T-Will has been completely dismantled under this staff.

It’s a defense that has talent and experience. What it lacks is functional depth and that certainly showed against the Rebels.

Once again, AU’s stars were on the field for entirely too long. Donovan Kaufman 89 of 90 snaps, Owen Pappoe 88, Zion Puckett 86, Derick Hall 85, D.J. James 82, Nehemiah Pritchett 79, Marcus Bragg 78 and Keionte Scott 75.

That’s ridiculous.

This staff failed to recruit and sign enough help over the offseason and has failed to develop any depth during the season.

Can you name one underclassman defensive lineman, edge or linebacker that you expect to be a future star for this team?

Jayson Jones, who is listed as a sophomore, is the only one of that group that plays regularly and I wouldn’t call him a star. Jeffrey M’Ba maybe? He’s yet to record a tackle-for-loss though. Jones has 0.5 in seven games.

It all just seems so hopeless right now. The team is bad and the future looks even more grim.

That’s not a good combination.

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 46 years to the day a parody song from a fired disc jockey became a No. 1 hit. On Oct. 16, 1976, Disco Duck by Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots took over the top position on the Billboard Hot 100. A popular disc jockey at WMPS-AM in Memphis, Tenn., Dees wrote the song in one day and after moderate success on a local label, it took off after being picked up by RSO Records. One of the idiots was, Kenneth Pruitt, who voiced the duck. Pruitt later sued Dees after only being paid $188 and the suit was settled out of court. WMPS-AM forbid Dees from playing his song on the air due to a perceived conflict of interest. When Dees promoted the song on the air, he was fired. Five days later, the song hit No. 1 and has since sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. It’s the last time a novelty song has climbed to the top spot in the charts. Dees landed at rival radio station WHBQ-AM in Memphis and his career took off from there.

Rigdon Osmond Dees III was born in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1950, but was raised in Greensboro, N.C., where he began working at a radio station while in high school. Dees graduated from the University of North Carolina while continuing to work at radio stations in Chapel Hill along with Birmingham, Ala., and Raleigh, N.C. After his success with Disco Duck, Dees was hired for the morning show for a station in Los Angeles, eventually landing at KIIS-FM in 1981. He began his own Weekly Top 40 countdown show and helped KIIS grow into one of the wealthiest radio station in the U.S. The show is still running today. He’s also hosted his own late-night show for one season in 1990 and has appeared on several T.V. shows including Roseanne, Married With Children and Cheers. He also co-founded the Fine Living Network, which is now the Cooking Channel. Dees released four other parody songs in the 70’s and 80’s but none charted in the top 50. He has an estimated net worth of $50 million.