Maybe it's better this way. At least now, when Alabama destroys Auburn in two weeks in the Iron Bowl, it won't be a playoff game. At least not for the Tigers.

It'll simply be one more painful reminder that Auburn may be better than it was a year ago but Auburn is far from back.

Back means playing Alabama for the SEC West title and a whole lot more with an actual chance to win. Back does not mean conceding the division to Alabama by losing ugly at Georgia and leaving no hope for the trip to Tuscaloosa.

Georgia 13, Auburn 7 was more than the crushing end of Auburn's outside shot at stealing Alabama's national thunder as it did three years ago. It was an ominous warning of what's coming when the Tigers get to T-town.

If they could score but one early touchdown against Georgia, and couldn't muster a single first down in the second half, they'll be lucky to cross midfield against the Alabama defense.

If they couldn't handle Smart and company, who hadn't won an SEC home game all season until Saturday, what chance do they have against Smart's mentor Nick Saban and his machine?

Shudder at the thought. There aren't enough prayers in Auburn's prayer circle to prevent the Armageddon that awaits.

Maybe this premature meltdown was fitting. Auburn's season started with total offensive embarrassment, and it ended - at least the part of it with championship aspirations - the same way. As was the case in the close opening loss to Clemson, a lot of players took snaps, Kamryn Pettway didn't carry the ball at all and the Tigers found the end zone just once.

This time, you couldn't blame Pettway's failure to scratch on Gus Malzahn and his coaches. The SEC's leading rusher was too hurt from his final carry against Vanderbilt last week to go Saturday, and Auburn missed him terribly.

But the Tigers didn't get shut down after halftime between the hedges solely because Pettway was on the sideline in sweats. The play-calling was head-scratching, the decision to stay with wounded and ineffective quarterback Sean White baffling.

Auburn ran 22 plays in the second half against Georgia and gained 32 yards, not once stringing together 10 yards for a first down. Break down those 22 plays, and Auburn ran it eight times and threw it 14 times. Tried to throw it 15 times but White got sacked once.

Let me repeat. The No. 1 rushing team in the SEC, the nation's No. 3 rushing team, threw the ball more than it ran the ball in the final 30 minutes of a one-possession game. Even though its quarterback had trouble throwing and its receivers had trouble catching.

What makes that fact all the more inexplicable is that White, who missed the first half a week ago with an undisclosed injury, went the distance Saturday even though the SEC's passing efficiency leader was far from his usual self. He was so off his game as a passer, it's hard to believe his apparently banged-up throwing shoulder was anywhere close to 100 percent.

Auburn's inability to develop a competent backup quarterback who could spell an ailing starter rests on Malzahn and Rhett Lashlee. So does the decision to stay with White despite his 2-for-13 passing line for 8 yards in the second half.

The strategy made as much sense as the nonsensical Clemson plan. Auburn started the third quarter with a 7-0 lead and threw three straight passes. After two incompletions, White threw a wounded duck directly to Georgia safety Maurice Smith - yes, Alabama grad transfer Maurice Smith - who ran it back 34 yards for Georgia's only touchdown of the day.

That was more yards than Auburn would gain in the final 30 minutes. The Tigers lost the momentum right there and never sniffed it again despite an Auburn defense that played through its own injuries and played its guts out to keep its own end zone clean.

So Auburn was beaten by Alabama before even facing Alabama, by the Alabama transfer Smith and the Alabama transplants Smart and Mel Tucker, whose defense went all Junkyard Dawgs all day with the exception of one long Auburn TD drive.

Auburn, which fell to 7-3 and 5-2, was exposed as one of the better teams in one of the worst top-to-bottom seasons we've seen in the SEC in years. Excuse me, in the league's non-Alabama division.

The separation between the Tide and everyone else is startling.

That six-game Auburn win streak was fun while it lasted, but it meant nothing when it counted most. Auburn lacked depth on offense and common sense from its offensive coaches, and if that was too much to overcome against Georgia, it'll spell disaster against Alabama.

An early prediction for the Tigers in the Iron Bowl: Pain and plenty of it.