Although Auburn was leading 24-10 after putting up only 58 total yards of offense in the third quarter, their offense took off in the fourth as Quan Bray helped seal the victory with his 44-yard touchdown pass followed by his 75-yard punt return touchdown.
"I just keep faith in the man above, I know he'll take care of us," Bray said. "My teammates feed off one another and we did that tonight."
Bray's three touchdowns and 91 receiving yards are career-high performances for the senior.
"We talked with the seniors before the season about how this is their year," head coach Gus Malzahn said. "(Bray) really has been raising his level. In a game like this he really made some impact plays to help us win. I'm very happy for him."
Cameron Artis-Payne rushed for 116 yards and Nick Marshall ran for 106 to help the team put up 254 total rushing yards.
Eight different Auburn players had at least one reception as Auburn had 219 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
Even though it was a slow first quarter for Auburn's offense, the Tigers still led Louisiana Tech 7-0 thanks to the defense holding the Bulldogs offense to 35 total yards and because of Montravius Adams' 35-yard interception return that set up Cameron Artis-Payne's five-yard touchdown run on the next play.
Auburn's offense showed improvement in the second quarter as Daniel Carlson hit a 25-yarder after missing his first one, Marshall threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Bray and an 18-yard touchdown to D'haquille Williams, who made the grab with one hand.
At the end of the half the Tigers led 24-3, as the defense continued to stop the Bulldogs offense.
The lone touchdown in the third quarter came from the Bulldogs' top running threat Kenneth Dixon, as the junior rushed into the endzone for his 37th career touchdown.
The fourth quarter put the game out of reach, starting with Marshall's ability to escape two defenders in order to throw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Bray. After Auburn's defense forced another three-and-out, Bray's punt return touchdown made it 38-10.
The Bulldogs did not quit then though. They responded in the following drive with a successful drive capped off by another Dixon touchdown run.
Then Jeremy Johnson replaced Marshall at quarterback and took advantage of his reps at the end of the game as he found C.J. Uzomah with a 15-yard touchdown pass to make it 45-17.
With this homecoming victory and 300th win in Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn is now 4-0 heading into their 6 p.m. game next weekend against LSU.
"We're still going to continue to go up," Malzahn said. "Obviously we have a very tough game next week at home but we just need to keep improving."
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