Hugh Freeze and the Auburn football team return home this week in the start of a two-game homestand.

The Tigers (3-3, 0-3 SEC) are set to see a their third-consecutive ranked opponent Saturday as Lane Kiffin and the 13th-ranked Ole Miss Rebels (5-1, 2-1 SEC) ride into Jordan-Hare Stadium — a place the Rebels have historically had very little luck.

While Auburn will look to return to the win column after suffering three straight losses and still lacking a win in conference play, Ole Miss will be looking to do something that hasn’t been done in 71 years: beat Auburn in back-to-back years.

Last fall, Ole Miss beat Auburn 48-34 in Oxford, Miss.

Saturday night’s game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. kickoff and will be televised on ESPN.

Here’s three questions Auburn will have to answer if it wants to come away with the upset Saturday night:

For the second week in a row, Auburn will look to win the time-of-possession battle. Can the Tigers do better than last week?

Look at the 19th-ranked LSU offense and the 13th-ranked Ole Miss offense and one might notice a lot of similarities.

“They are similar,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said of the LSU and Ole Miss offense Monday. “(The Rebels) go faster than LSU. LSU is not tempo all the time. Lane (Kiffin) and Charlie (Weis Jr.) want to go fast all the time. That is hard to prepare for, for sure. They do a few more running things than LSU and probably in the passing game too.”

As such, Freeze and the Tigers will hope to limit the impact of the Ole Miss offense by keeping the football in the hands of the Auburn offense as long as possible. That was the goal during last week’s game in Baton Rouge, but the Tigers failed.

LSU won last weeks’ time of possession battle 34:13 to 25:47.

When Freeze was asked for his keys to this weekend’s game vs. Ole Miss, he emphasized winning the time-of-possession battle.

“I’d love to get into halftime and us have 2-to-1 time of possession,” Freeze said.

And seeing success in the time-of-possession battle hinges on Auburn’s success on third down — an area that’s been of concern all season as Auburn’s offense has struggled to move the chains and Auburn’s defense has struggled to get off the field.

“We gotta look at third downs on both sides,” Freeze said. “Can we have success on both of those downs?”

What will Auburn’s quarterback situation look like this week?

Another less-than-impressive offensive showing on the road in Baton Rouge last week has some Auburn fans clamoring for a change at quarterback.

Against LSU, junior Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne trotted out onto the field to start the game, just as he has in each of Auburn’s six games this season. However, looking for a spark on offense, sophomore backup quarterback Robby Ashford also saw a considerable number of reps under center against LSU.

With the Thorne-Ashford quarterback rotation appearing in yet another game, it’s fair to ask if it’ll return this week against Ole Miss.

On the other hand, some question if last week’s sputtering showing on offense against relatively bad LSU defense will be enough for Freeze to change his approach at the quarterback position and maybe let someone other than Thorne jog out onto the field to open the game.

In his press conference Monday, Freeze hinted that there wouldn’t be any major changes to the offense’s personnel.

“No real Earth-shaking personnel changes,” Freeze said. “Just trying to get the best plan that our kids understand that they can execute with who we have.”

Later in his press conference, Freeze added that he would expect to see both quarterbacks play against the Rebels on Saturday night.

Auburn lacked energy last week. Will that change this week and will Jordan-Hare Stadium help?

There was a team-wide sense of disappointment following last week’s loss to LSU and the days that followed.

Not so much because of the result on the scoreboard, but because of the result on the field and on the sideline.

“They played harder, which is embarrassing and hurtful to say,” Freeze said of LSU on Monday. “And, you know, there’s one thing for a team to have more talent, but I didn’t think we showed up with the right energy and drive and competitive spirit.”

Many of Auburn’s players echoed Freeze’s sentiments regarding the Tigers’ lack of energy last week. And as such, it was huge point of emphasis during the practices leading up to Saturday night’s game vs. Ole Miss.

Instead of doing their walk-throughs in a relaxed practice setting on Friday, Freeze switched things up and had the Tigers do their walk-throughs on Thursday so he could practice with more intensity on Friday. The change was an effort to get Auburn’s juices flowing.

Fortunately for the Tigers, they get to take on Ole Miss under the lights of Jordan-Hare Stadium — a place they’ve played considerably better throughout the course of the season.

“I’m thankful that we’re at home in Jordan-Hare,” Freeze said. “We need it to be at its all-time best and I know it will be.”

And knowing the challenge that lies ahead as the 13th-ranked team in the country comes to town, Auburn’s players are hoping for the same.

“Shoot, Jordan-Hare Stadium can do miracles,” said Auburn freshman defensive end Keldric Faulk.