If Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said he was jealous of Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, no one could blame him.

In each of his stops before Auburn, if Freeze’s run-pass-option and up-tempo offense were compared to a car, folks might’ve said it was fast and shiny. If nothing else, it certainly turned heads downtown and got people talking.

“I probably wouldn’t be sitting here today if it wasn’t for tempo offense and RPO world,” Freeze said Monday.

Younger guys around town like Lane Kiffin took notice of the attention Freeze’s car was getting and followed suit when it came time to purchase one of his own.

Now Kiffin sits in the driver’s seat of an Ole Miss offense that goes just as fast — if not faster — than the one Freeze once piloted at Ole Miss and then at Liberty.

“Lane (Kiffin) and Charlie (Weis Jr.) want to go fast all the time,” Freeze said of Kiffin and his co-offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. “That’s hard to prepare for, for sure.”

Unfortunately for Freeze, when he arrived at Auburn, he learned quick that the car he was inheriting didn’t have the horsepower it needed to go as fast as he’d like. And the parts store – or transfer portal – couldn’t get him the parts he needed quick enough to help him bridge the gap.

But still, Freeze has tried hard to implement both tempo- and RPO-style offenses at Auburn.

However, neither have worked.

“It’s a very uncomfortable feeling for me to not be in that world,” Freeze said, referring to the RPO and up-tempo styles of offense he’s accustomed to running.

Of 130 teams in the FBS, Auburn ranks 100th in total offense, while its passing offense ranks even closer to the bottom of the barrel. The Tigers are also last in the SEC in scoring offense and yards per completion.

Prior to last week’s 48-18 loss to No. 22 LSU, Auburn hadn’t been able to pass for 100 yards against a Power 5 opponent.

And while Auburn is sometimes able to get the ball moving when using an up-tempo offense, Freeze has to consider the value of keeping the Tigers’ injury-thinned defense on the sideline.

“If you say, ‘Hey man, let’s just go fast’ with them and see if we can do that then you are asking Marcus Harris to play 80 snaps a game,” Freeze said Monday. “Depth issues are… not just Marcus but other defensive linemen, and I’m not sure that’s smart either, so we are still kind of debating on what’s the right approach.”

Meanwhile, when Kiffin and the 13th-ranked Ole Miss Rebels come to Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday night, Freeze will have to control his look of envy because Kiffin gets to navigate a fast and shiny car that closely resembles the one Freeze once drove in Oxford, Miss.

Freeze was asked Wednesday if he thought he and Kiffin’s offenses were similar.

“I do think I’ve had offenses before that look similar to what he’s doing there,” Freeze said.

That comment, however, was prefaced by a dose of reality from Auburn’s head coach.

“Well, the first thing is that currently there is a noticeable difference because they’re obviously one of the top ten in the country offensively and we have yet to find and consistency,” Freeze said.

While Auburn’s offense has struggled, the Ole Miss offense ranks eighth in the country in scoring offense and 11th in total offense.

To paint a better picture, Ole Miss stood toe to toe with LSU on Sept. 30, knocking off Brian Kelly and the Bayou Bengals in a 55-49, high-scoring shootout.

But Freeze knew he didn’t have the pieces on his roster to hang around with a high-powered offense like LSU’s.

“I’m not sure we’re quite ready for that type of game,” Freeze said.

And that’s gotta be a maddening thing to hear himself say considering Freeze has feasted on the ability to outscore opponents through much of his career.

Meanwhile, Kiffin and the Rebels have the pieces to do that, starting at the quarterback spot.

While Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart has passed for 1,638 yards, 12 touchdowns and just two interceptions, Auburn’s starting quarterback, Payton Thorne, has passed for just 745 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions.

In the backfield, Ole Miss has a feature running back in Quinshon Judkins, who has tallied 443 yards and six touchdowns through six games this season.

Meanwhile, Auburn running back Jarquez Hunter has rushed for just 227 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the Tigers’ leading running back, while Thorne’s 304 rushing yards leads the team.

Comparing the pieces of Auburn’s offense to the pieces of Ole Miss’ offense is like comparing apples to oranges.

And it’s that talent on the Rebels’ offense, paired with their depth on defense that allows Kiffin to drive his car with the throttle wide open.

But Freeze can’t blame Kiffin. Because heck, Freeze wants to drive his car fast, too. But he just doesn’t have the horsepower at the moment.

Does Freeze hope to change that in the future?

“Absolutely,” Freeze said. “I like those stats I see from Ole Miss, so I hope.”