As if last week’s performances from Auburn’s one-two punch out wide were not enough, Cam Coleman and KeAndre Lambert-Smith followed up with yet another prolific outing this week.
It was Coleman who ignited the Auburn scoring efforts, making a catch on the two-yard line to set up a would-be Jarquez Hunter touchdown run on the opening drive of the game, and scoring on the ensuing drives to vault the Tigers up 21-0 on the No. 15 Aggies in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
On Auburn’s second drive of the game, Coleman broke free behind the Aggies’ defense for a 63-yard touchdown reception, making it clear early that it was his time to shine against the team that won his initial commitment as a senior in high school.
“Practicing all week, throughout the practices getting the reps in practice so it was routine,” Coleman said. “Payton (Thorne) told me if the corner bites he's launching it, and I got on the corner's toes and saw the ball in the air. I thought the ball was in the air for like 15 seconds. It was just a good feeling when I caught the ball and scored. White and blue flashing lights, it was an electric atmosphere."
Coleman surpassed his career-high of 100 receiving yards – set just a week ago against ULM – only 16 minutes into the game and finished his night with 128 yards on seven catches. He became Auburn’s first player to have back-to-back 100-yard receiving performances since Sammie Coates did so in 2013 and the first freshman to achieve the feat since Ronny Daniels in 1999.
In doing so, Auburn picked up its first win against a ranked opponent since the 2021 season.
“It was good for everybody to have fun,” Coleman said. “We worked for this. The stuff we’ve been through, it’s not compared to the joy that we’re feeling right now. So, it was just a good feeling.”
It wasn’t just Coleman who stole the show on Saturday night. His counterpart, Lambert-Smith lived up to his nickname of “Big Play Dre” with 104 yards on just two catches, both of which would set the Tigers up in scoring position. The duo became the first pair of Auburn receivers to record consecutive 100-yard receiving games in Auburn records dating back to 1949.
“Really it’s just like, pick your poison,” Coleman said. “If you want to double team me, then we’ll go to Dre. If you want to double team Dre, then we’ll just come to me. So, it’s really just pick your poison.”
It was Lambert-Smith who put the final dagger in the Aggies hopes, with the final reception in fourth overtime. Lambert-Smith recorded his second consecutive 100-yard performance, and his third of the season, and leads the SEC in touchdown receptions (8).
“We have run that play since I've been here, since the summer,” Lambert-Smith said. “We hit it every day in practice against the defense. I was lowkey pitching for them to call it. We tried it on one of the previous overtimes, I think it was the one where Payton scrambled and threw it out of bounds, and then we came back to it, and I'm like, 'P, just throw it, it's just like practice, just throw it and I'm ready to catch.' He threw it, and I had to win, and I won. We won.”
Moments later, Lambert-Smith was ‘swag-surfin’ atop the Auburn crowd near midfield, taking in the memories that came with his last game in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“It felt different. I put on my story, 'last one in Jordan-Hare, let's make it memorable,' and that is definitely something I will never forget," Lambert-Smith said. I was in the crowd, I was surfing, it felt like a movie. I felt like it was a great way to send the seniors out, the guys who have been here four or five years. I'm happy that I could be the one to do it, I don't take it lightly."
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Logan Fowler is a Senior from Sumiton, Alabama and is majoring in journalism. He joined the Plainsman in Spring 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @loganffowler
