AUBURN | The eagle flew good. Auburn students, alumni and fans showed up ready to make a difference.

The stage was set for another special afternoon at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Then the game started and a beautiful fall day turned into a shocking, sweaty slog of misery.

Saturday’s 41-12 loss to Penn State was the absolute worst possible outcome for Bryan Harsin’s football program. Just three weeks into the season, it puts him in an almost untenable situation.

The term must-win game gets thrown around a lot in sports, often gratuitously, but these next two home games against Missouri and LSU are as must-win as any Auburn coach has faced in a long time.

The early signing period — Dec. 21 this year — has moved these decisions forward. Two Power 5 schools have already fired their coaches — Nebraska and Arizona State — getting a head start on the coaching search. Georgia Tech, Colorado and perhaps West Virginia may not be far behind.

We all know what’s coming Oct. 8 at No. 1 Georgia. Harsin desperately needs to be 4-1 going into what will likely be another embarrassing blowout.

There’s hope at 4-2 and 2-1 in the conference. There’s pipe dreams at 3-3 and 1-2 with four more Top 25 opponents left on the schedule.

There’s a burning pile of trash at 2-4 and 0-3. And that’s exactly what’s going to happen if this team doesn’t make significant improvements immediately.

I can’t decide which was worse. The play of an offensive line that allowed six sacks, nine more quarterback hurries and four penalties, or a talented defense that vastly underachieved allowing 41 points and 477 yards, and garnering zero sacks or quarterback hurries.

It was a complete disaster, especially at the line of scrimmage.

And how could I forget a minus-8 turnover margin, which ranks 130th out of 131 schools, and a recruiting class that ranks 13th in the SEC.

Insert <puke emoji>.

This ain’t good, folks. I’m not calling for anyone’s head. Those decisions are so far above my pay grade I’m not in the same orbit. And we shouldn’t forget the number of families that would be impacted by a coaching upheaval.

There’s only a select number that have buyouts. The others will be immediately in search of employment and uprooting their families once again.

I’ve been around the block a few times in my 22 years of covering Auburn and I have a pretty good idea of what’s coming. Harsin is the fourth full-time coach I’ve covered and it’s looking like No. 5 is right around the corner.

I don't take pleasure in writing that but it just feels inevitable.

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 32 years to the day a night-shift worker at Chevron was hired to front one of the leading bands of the grunge movement and best-selling groups of all time. On Sept. 19, 1990, Eddie Vedder was hired as lead vocalist of Pearl Jam after submitting a demo tape in which he recorded his vocals over three of the band’s instrumentals. The first two songs became Alive and Once, two hits from their quintessential debut album, Ten. The group formed from Mother Love Bone, which broke up after the death of lead singer Andrew Wood. Bass Guitarist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard from Mother Love Bone combined with guitarist Mike McCready. It was McCready who gave the demo tape to former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons to recruit him for the band and to pass it on if he knew any potential lead singers. Irons got it to Vedder, who he played basketball with, and the rest is history. Pearl Jam has gone on to sell over 85 million albums, ranking among the most of all time, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. Ten sold more than 13 million copies and has been certified 13x Platinum. It is ranked 160th on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2021.

Edward Louis Severson III was born in Evaston, Ill. in 1964. His mother divorced shortly after Edward’s divorce and he grew up believing his stepfather, Peter Mueller, was his real father. He received a guitar on his 12th birthday and was inspired to take up playing and singing by listening to The Who. After his mother’s second divorce and the death of his stepfather, Edward changed his last name to Vedder, his mother’s maiden name. He moved to San Diego in the early 1980’s and played with several bands before connecting with Ament, Gossard and McCready to form Pearl Jam in 1990. The group was originally called Mookie Blaylock, but forced to change after signing with Epic Records. The first album, Ten, was in honor of Blaylock’s jersey number in the NBA. Alive and Once are part of what Vedder calls his Momma-Son trilogy, which concludes with Footsteps. Alive tells the story of a son that learns his dad is actually his stepfather. Once continues with the boy losing his mind and committing murder and Footsteps chronicles looking back at a failed life from death row. Footsteps was released on the B-side of the Jeremy single and a live version on the compilation album, Lost Dogs. Ten also included two other hits in Even Flow and Jeremy. Pearl Jam has produced 11 albums and remains active today.