Auburn was able to beat LSU after Les Miles’ Tigers weren’t able to beat the clock on Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

As a result, Miles is sitting on the hottest seat in the SEC all by himself.

Here’s an analysis of Auburn’s 18-13 victory over the Bayou Bengals.

5 TAKEAWAYS

• Daniel Carlson is still Auburn’s most important weapon: You can’t say the best kicker in the SEC – and the FBS for that matter – isn’t consistent. Carlson, who made three of his field goals from 29 yards, added successful kicks from 51, 31 and 37 yards. Imagine where Auburn might be were it not for his exploits week after week.
• Sean White shows improvement: A week after throwing for only 126 yards in a loss to Texas A&M, the redshirt sophomore bounced back in a big way. He completed 19-of-26 passes for 234 yards with neither a touchdown pass nor an interception. Most importantly, he improved to 2-2 as a starter this season, including a chance to beat Clemson on the final play of the game in the season opener. That’s not bad.
• AU’s pass defense was outstanding: Granted, Auburn faced a QB with only three games of SEC experience in former Purdue signal-caller Danny Etling, but holding him to 118 passing yards was impressive nonetheless. Once again, quarterback play doomed LSU. But for once, Brandon Harris wasn’t to blame.
• Leonard Fournette is held in check: What a difference a year makes. In last season’s matchup, Fournette had his easiest game of the year, rushing 19 times for 228 yards – 12 yards per carry – and 3 TDs in LSU’s 45-21 win. Saturday night, he finished with 101 yards on 16 attempts – 6.3 per rush – and no scores. It appears Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele used his lone season practicing against Fournette in Baton Rouge last year to his advantage this time.
• Kyle Davis finally makes more than one catch: OK. So the freshman wideout had just 24 receiving yards. But with two receptions, he snapped his streak of three straight games with just one catch. Let’s see if he can double his output next week.

REPORT CARD

Offense: B- – White’s 234 passing yards were good. Auburn’s 154 yards on 49 carries, not so much. This grade would be higher if any of AU’s six field goal drives would have resulted in a touchdown.
Defense: B – Like the offense, the results were mixed. AU won despite allowing 220 yards on 32 carries. But it prevailed also because it yielded just 118 passing yards. Nevertheless, Auburn surrendered only 6 points after the first quarter.
Special teams: A – Carlson was his usual reliable self. A week after combining with Ian Shannon for 9 punts against the Aggies, Kevin Phillips was called upon only three times.
Coaching: C – The passing game was obviously better, but with an average of 3.1 yards per carry, the running game must improve. Offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, who was given control of the play calling, must find a way for Auburn to do something other than kick field goals every time it gets near the end zone. Otherwise, the Art Briles-to-Auburn rumors won’t go away.
Overall: B+ – The defense did what it could to keep Auburn in the game. The offense did enough to win it. A week after holding Texas A&M to just 2-for-15 on third down, Auburn allowed LSU to convert only 4-of-13 opportunities.

GAME PLAN

Auburn ran the ball 65 percent of the time, which led to a 32:11-27:49 time of possession edge. Plus, when they did throw the ball, the Tigers completed 73 percent of their passes. After running 89 plays last week, Auburn executed 75.

GAME BALLS

RB Kerryon Johnson: He was Auburn’s most productive player on offense with a team-high 68 receiving yards and 93 more on the ground in 22 attempts.
WR Tony Stevens: He and Johnson each had four receptions, second on the team behind Ryan Davis, who finished with five catches for 31 yards.
DE Carl Lawson: He matched his career high with two sacks, which equaled his output in a 30-22 win over Ole Miss in 2013.