Burrow had shown a lot this season, transforming L.S.U.’s offense and thrusting himself into Heisman Trophy contention. But when the hit from Davis sent Burrow hurtling into the Auburn sideline, his head snapping back midair, the lithe, baby-face quarterback showed something else.

He immediately bounced back up.

When Burrow shrugged off the aid of several teammates and ran right back to the huddle, it seemed to awaken second-ranked L.S.U., which needed every bit of its collective resilience to beat back ninth-ranked Auburn, 23-20. The win sets up what looks like the regular-season game of the year in two weeks when L.S.U. (8-0), which is now ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, travels to Alabama, now No. 2. Both teams will be off next weekend.

“I think that if a quarterback shows toughness, it can really get the team going,” Burrow said at the end of an afternoon in which his team rolled up 508 yards in total offense but was held to 13 points below its previous season-low point total. He added, “It wasn’t pretty by any means, but SEC games aren’t going to be pretty.”

Indeed, as L.S.U. players could finally look ahead to the game their fans have been eyeing all season — a tailgating band played a version of “Sweet Home Alabama” with the lyrics: “In Birmingham, they love Nick Saban; we used to love him, too” — several said their first objective was to spend time in the trainer’s room recovering.

The Auburn defense, which “fought their guts out,” Coach Gus Malzahn said, did more than just punish Burrow, who was sacked three times in the first quarter. It held on two goal-line stands with L.S.U. settling for a field goal in the second quarter and getting stuffed on fourth-and-1 in the third. And on the possession after that, cornerback Roger McCreary intercepted a pass intended for Ja’Marr Chase, L.S.U.’s best receiver, at the Auburn 2-yard line to preserve a 13-10 Auburn lead.