AUBURN, Ala. – From his press box vantage point in the southwest corner of Jordan-Hare Stadium, Andy Burcham described the play as it began to unfold at the other end of the stadium.
"First-and-10 from the 9 for Auburn. Bigsby the tailback, play-action. Nix looks and he throws it. He's got Schwartz wide open!"
After the catch, Auburn junior receiver Anthony Schwartz still needed to travel 45 yards to reach LSU's goal line, but knowing how this movie would end, the Voice of the Auburn Tigers instantly declared the footrace to be over.
"AND THEY'LL NOT CATCH HIM. THERE HE GOES… LIKE A FLASH!! Anthony Schwartz for a touchdown."
The 91-yard touchdown was the third longest pass play in Auburn history, giving the Tigers a 48-3 lead on Auburn's first play of the fourth quarter.
"I knew it was going to happen," Schwartz said. "We wanted to put the game away. It felt great. All the practice paid off on that pass and hopefully we can just keep it going forward."
Auburn anticipated a closer contest, after three consecutive losses to LSU by a combined eight points.
"We were happy to be able to beat them, especially in that manner," said Schwartz, who recorded his second career 100-yard game with four receptions for 123 yards. "We felt like we needed to gain their respect back. I feel like this is going to be a big momentum boost for us for the rest of the season."
ELITE ELI
The only current Auburn player to have previously defeated LSU (as a freshman in 2016), Eli Stove contributed mightily to the Tigers' 48-11 victory, making a team-high five receptions on five targets for 64 yards and scoring Auburn's first touchdown.
"That was a long time ago," said Stove, who added 21 rushing yards on three carries. "It felt really good. It was great to get that win, really exciting."
Stove's TD catch was his third this season and fifth in his career. He and teammate Seth Williams, who made four catches for 71 yards vs. LSU, are tied for No. 11 in program history with 113 career receptions.
OPEN-FIELD ANDERS
The last line of defense on kickoff coverage, when a team asks its placekicker to save the day it usually doesn't go well for the kicking team.
Anders Carlson was the exception Saturday against LSU. After Auburn scored to lead 21-0 with 40 seconds left in the first half, LSU's Trey Palmer fielded a kick at his 2-yard line and sprinted diagonally for 30 yards, untouched by 10 Auburn defenders.
Palmer's path to paydirt ended at LSU's 35 when Carlson, displaying fundamentally sound tackling technique, lunged at his legs, wrapping up the returner to the delight of Auburn fans and Carlson's teammates.
LSU kicked a field goal five plays later as the half expired, meaning Carlson's touchdown-saving tackle directly impacted the outcome by four points.Carlson comes through: Anders Carlson saves a touchdown with a special teams tackle FINE O-LINE
Just when Auburn's offensive line finally had an opportunity to practice with the same five starters for multiple weeks, Brandon Council was injured in Auburn's win vs. Ole Miss. Redshirt freshman Keiondre Jones started at right guard
"I think he played well," left tackle Alec Jackson said. "He did his job when he got in."
For the fourth straight game, Auburn rushed for more than 200 yards. The Tigers also prevented LSU from sacking Auburn's quarterbacks.
"We always preach trying to keep Bo clean," Jackson said. "We've grown a lot since the Georgia game. We're getting better and better every single week. We've still got a lot of improvement to go."
"They played great today," Schwartz said. "They've improved a lot. They felt like they had to step up because last week one of our main guys went down. I'm proud of them, they've grown a lot since week one. They're definitely on the right track."
"They really answered the bell today," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "There's some things we can build on."
THE DRIVE
After an LSU punt pinned the Tigers at their 1-yard line with 3 minutes, 36 seconds remaining in the first half, Auburn marched 99 yards in eight plays.
Tank Bigsby began the drive by rushing for 26 yards. Bo Nix rushed twice for 20 yards, bookending a 28-yard pass to Seth Williams and a 12-yard Eli Stove run.
Nix capped the drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Ze'Vian Capers, the true freshman's first career TD, to give Auburn a 21-0 lead.
"Real proud of our team," Malzahn said. "We played 60 minutes. It's going to give us some momentum for the last four."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
