No, Auburn fans that thought they were experiencing déjà vu last Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium weren't just getting delusional or dizzy from all the screaming of an instant classic rivalry game.

They had seen a similar sequence play out before — 456 days prior in Atlanta. Only in the Iron Bowl, it was a much younger gunslinger delivering the near-perfect pass to the corner of the end zone.

Tigers freshman QB Bo Nix pump-faked, freezing Alabama edge rusher Anfernee Jennings to give himself more time, then took advantage of the hesitation from Alabama's secondary, finding receiver Sal Cannella in the corner of Jordan-Hare's north end zone for a 14-yard touchdown.

Cannella beat his man — Crimson Tide cornerback Patrick Surtain II — with a double move, then a smooth route to the corner of the end zone. It was the same way he beat Washington cornerback Jordan Miller last year when he caught Auburn's season-opening touchdown from Jarrett Stidham against the Huskies.

"Same play," Cannella said after the Iron Bowl. "That's my play."

Cannella's score tied the game at 24-24 in the second quarter and, like all other Tiger scores in the game, was essential for Auburn's eventual 3-point victory, 48-45 over hated rival Alabama.

And for Cannella, his first touchdown of the year came on a special occasion — his Senior Day, with a good portion of his family in attendance from Illinois.

"You couldn't write it up any better, man," Cannella said. "... My parents are here. My mom, dad, brother, and one of my close cousins came down. First touchdown of the year, Iron Bowl, I mean, I'm doing it for them to be honest.

"... It's just kind of fate that it happened that way, and I'm happy I went out like that."

Cannella's grab was the third straight in a string of eye-opening receptions for Auburn on that drive. Go-to sophomore Seth Williams got all of Jordan-Hare on its feet by hauling in a 37-yard pass from Nix near the sideline. Senior Will Hastings then made a leaping, 11-yard grab on a ball that appeared at first like it was intended to be thrown away by Nix.

But the 6-foot-5, 228-pound Cannella's baryshnikov-esque play took the cake.

"He went up and toe-tapped it. Sal had the best catch," Williams said.

The snag was just Cannella's ninth reception of the former JUCO product's third year in the Auburn program. But in the Tigers' final contest of the regular season, he — along with Hastings, who hadn't had a reception of 10 yards or more since Oct. 5 vs. Florida — was pivotal on that series.

"They’re not talked about a lot, but they make plays when they have to make plays," Nix said. "And in games like that, that’s the difference."

After the game, Cannella, like the rest of the seniors who are now old hands at the whole rushing-the-field-after-beating-Alabama thing, knew exactly where he was going to celebrate. He was one of a handful of Auburn players that immediately jumped into the student section and danced with fans who hadn't yet made their way onto Pat Dye Field.

"We had all my closest boys that were up there chillin' on top, over by the student section, standing up, just seeing everything, looking from a bird's eye view up there," Cannella said. "Everybody was crowding around. Everybody was hyped up. I mean, that's something I'll remember forever. I'll never forget that. Hopefully, I'll get some pictures from that.

"It was just unbelievable. Picture-perfect way to go out."

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