With the first bye week now over, Auburn officially begins the second half of its season this week.

It’ll hope for a more successful second half after falling wells short of expectations through the first six games. As the Tigers sit 2-4, multiple players called the bye week a reset as they look to turn the season around in the second half.

Here are five bold predictions as Auburn enters the second half of the season:

KeAndre Lambert-Smith will break Auburn’s single-season receiving record

It’s going relatively unnoticed due to Auburn’s poor results, but Lambert-Smith is quietly having one of the best seasons by an Auburn receiver in recent memory.

He’s already up to 510 receiving yards — more than any Auburn receiver the previous two seasons — and six touchdowns, the most by an Auburn wide receiver since Seth Williams in 2019.

Lambert-Smith has been one of Auburn’s most consistent players on offense and his targets will likely continue to rise.

The single-season Auburn receiving yards record is 1,068, set by Ronney Daniels in 1999. While he’s not yet on pace to break it, Lambert-Smith should have more than enough opportunities in the second half of the year to keep padding his stats.

Auburn will beat at least one of Missouri, Texas A&M or Alabama

The idea of Auburn being a better team than its record suggests has become somewhat of an overused talking point this season. However, the Tigers are still good enough to pull an upset or two.

Which game will it be? That’s a little harder to tell, but if this college football season has taught us anything, it’s to expect chaos.

Auburn has a history of creating chaos, whether it’s for itself or other teams. It has hurt itself enough by its own chaos this season, and it still feels like the ball could bounce the Tigers’ way in a big game this season.

Auburn will lose to either Vanderbilt or Louisiana-Monroe

Unfortunately for the Tigers, the chaos forced upon themselves probably isn’t done yet.

Before the season, many people probably didn’t think twice before penciling in games against Vanderbilt and Louisiana-Monroe as wins. Now, those games feel like a challenge at best and an upset waiting to happen at worst.

After Vanderbilt’s 4-2 start to the season and monumental win over Alabama, the idea of the Commodores beating Auburn feels less and less like a huge upset.

Louisiana-Monroe is quietly becoming one of the stories of college football, sitting 5-1 under former UAB interim head coach Bryant Vincent, and its one loss coming against Texas.

While the Tigers will likely still be a heavy favorite in that game, the Warhawks will bring a challenge that few expected before the season.

Payton Thorne will finish with 3,000+ passing yards

Despite being plagued by turnovers, Thorne has had good moments throughout this season. He already has two 300-yard passing games in 2024, a mark he never hit last season.

Now that he seems to have the starting job locked up again and comfortability within the offense continues to increase, there’s reason to believe his numbers will only improve.

He’ll still have to face some tough defenses, but the offense has shown it can move the ball when it doesn’t turn it over. Thorne will likely be required to throw the ball in many of Auburn’s upcoming games too, as the Tigers could easily find themselves playing from behind against teams like Missouri, Texas A&M and Alabama.

Auburn will finish 5-7

There’s room to debate just how bold this prediction is, but it doesn’t take away from the level of disappointment this finish would cause.

Auburn has finished the regular season under .500 three times in the last 20 years, and all three times the head coach was either fired or resigned. This isn’t to suggest Hugh Freeze would or should lose his job if Auburn finishes 5-7, but it illustrates the disappointment that comes with that kind of record at Auburn.

The road ahead for Auburn doesn’t get any easier. With multiple ranked conference matchups left, it’s hard to imagine the Tigers finishing 4-2 or better after winning just two of their first six.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m