Some are using the time to golf. Others are going out of town to the lake or beach to enjoy the last few days of summer-ish weather. Fishing. Hunting. Apple picking. All these things have been mentioned to me on how Auburn fans spend their Saturdays this October instead of watching the Tigers.

This has become the norm, not the exception, as those who used to schedule every little detail around tailgating and Auburn football have grown tired and exhausted of the product Bryan Harsin has put on the field. And, it's not just that they have decided to enjoy doing almost anything else. It's the fact that what was once anger and frustration has turned into disregard and dismissive attitudes toward the results on the field.

And it isn't easy to make a passionate fan base into this version of themselves. If anything, Auburn fans are used to being beaten down now and then. No matter the results, Jordan-Hare Stadium was at least close, if not completely full. Ever the optimists, they showed up week after week when things were even the bleakest. That's what makes the great moments so much sweeter.

Not now. Not this year. Not this tenure. When the Tigers take the field for an 11 a.m. game against Arkansas next Saturday, the stadium might more resemble a Vanderbilt home game than the usual fanfare we are used to seeing along South Donahue. Or, if you will, a basketball game with Tony Barbee in charge.

Maybe that – a less than enthusiastic crowd for a matchup between the two SEC West bottom dwellers – and the optics it creates will be enough for Christopher Roberts and those others helping in the decision-making process finally cut the lights on an idea that had as much hope of working as New Coke.

It will certainly show up if they keep Harsin around until the end of the season. If you think the Arkansas attendance will be bad, wait until Western Kentucky comes in November. Do you really think people will show up to watch that?

A decision has to be made and made soon because there have been almost no redeeming things that have come out of the last 22 months other than giving those who usually live and die on the results of Auburn football a reason to ignore just that and find other hobbies for occupying their once-precious Saturdays.

By keeping this experiment – and I call it that because I fail to describe it any other way – going now and possibly into November, the future of this program falls further behind not just its rivals but those who once looked up to Auburn as a program they wished to be. It's got to the point where Tiger fans can look at Ole Miss, Arkansas and South Carolina with jealousy.

But back to this once die-hard fan base. The last two weeks speak of what they think of spending their money, once saved for road trips to other SEC locations, and not even considering traveling to Athens or Oxford. If there were 2,000 Auburn fans in Sanford Stadium last Saturday, I would be shocked. And, from what I've been told, the same thing can be said about the loss to Ole Miss.

I don't remember when apathy was so high toward the Tigers. Giving away tickets has become a chore, as no one wants to bear witness to the cluster this coaching staff has put together. Do the players deserve this? Absolutely not. They are still out there fighting every second to try and turn things around, but unfortunately, they are behind a massive eight ball created by Harsin.

The writing has been on the wall for a long time, but the university's leadership has done nothing to start the process of repairing the problem. If it is a matter of looking bad, you can throw that out the window. After what occurred in February, Harsin's dismissal will be treated like an unjust act by those without the knowledge to know better. It's a ticking time bomb that will explode with hit pieces from those journalists Auburn fans have grown to despise.

But right now, it is about a fan base that has given up all hope; the same fans that buy season tickets, support the local economy on home weekends and hold onto every word and syllable that a head coach says. Those are very few right now, and it won't shift back to the positive until a change is made.

An Auburn coach has completely lost a loyal fan base. That should be enough for the ax to come down soon.