For the first time this season, Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers (3-4, 0-4 SEC) are favored to win against a conference opponent as the Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-3, 1-3 SEC) come to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday afternoon for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.

All week, the focus for the Tigers has been rebounding from their four-game skid, which featured three consecutive games against opponents now ranked in the top 15, and picking up their first SEC win this weekend.

With a much more favorable-looking stretch of games on the horizon, Auburn is hoping a win over Mississippi State could be the spark it needs to get the ball rolling towards bowl eligibility, which still remains on the table for the Tigers.

“We need some momentum and that starts right here in Jordan-Hare,” Auburn veteran defensive back Jaylin Simpson said Tuesday.

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

Another game week means another week spent questioning what Hugh Freeze and the Tigers will do at the quarterback spot.

Except this week, it feels like the questions are more pressing after sophomore Robby Ashford was the first to trot out onto the Pat Dye Field last week against Ole Miss. After starting last week, it felt as though Ashford and junior Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne each tallied a somewhat even number of snaps under center.

Like most coaches have said all season, Mississippi State head coach Zach Arnett said earlier in the week that he and the Bulldogs are preparing to see both quarterbacks Saturday afternoon.

And while Freeze hasn’t directly indicated that he and the Auburn offense are planning to abandon the two-quarterback rotation this week, it’s clear he’s getting burnt out on the current approach.

“It’d be nice to have one, for sure,” Freeze said of the quarterback situation after last week’s loss to Ole Miss. “But we’re searching to see what is the best avenue for us to go to win.”

Freeze says that both Ashford and Thorne have separate packages to run depending on what the game gives them.

The case for Thorne is the fact that he seems to thrive more in up-tempo situations.

And from the sounds of it, Freeze and Auburn’s offensive staff have picked up on the fact that the Tigers seem to be more efficient when working at a higher tempo. In last week’s loss to Ole Miss, 96 of Auburn’s 122 passing yards came in the fourth quarter as Thorne and the Auburn offense had no choice but to keep their foot on the gas and operate with tempo as the final whistle approached.

“My whole history has been around tempo and obviously RPO and I think Monty’s more comfortable in tempo. It seems Payton is a little more comfortable in his skillset with some of that.”

But the buzz around Ashford has grown this week.

“I’ve said from Day 1 that I think Robby has a place,” Freeze said Monday. “Is his place every down? We’ll see this week. If it’s a package that enables us to continue drives, I think we always have to look at those things right now with the current state of who we are.”

Can the Tigers’ bruised offensive line limit the Mississippi State defense’s “chaos”?

Between position battles and injuries, Auburn’s offensive line has been put through the ringer.

Prior to last week’s game, Freeze revealed that two members of the Tigers’ offensive line had limited weeks of practice as they dealt with injuries. Meanwhile, Freeze held an “open competition” between Izavion ‘Too Tall’ Miller and Jaden Muskrat at the right tackle spot.

And all of that came before it was revealed Monday that starting center Avery Jones was “doubtful” for Saturday’s game against Mississippi State after being injured against Ole Miss.

True freshman Connor Lew is expected to start in Jones’ absence. And he’s getting thrown into the fire a bit as Mississippi State’s defensive line is no slouch of a unit and toys around with a lot of movement.

“It’s definitely different compared to a lot of teams we have played in the past,” Lew said of the Mississippi State defensive line. “I think Ole Miss doing a lot of similar twists up front and like I said, getting my feet wet and just they do a lot of similar stuff so at least I’ve seen some of it.”

Freeze called the Bulldogs’ movement up front “scary” and “chaotic” during his time on Auburn’s Tiger Talk radio show Thursday night. He added that it can make an offense look “really bad” and that the Tigers will be forced to throw it some if they want to get past the Mississippi State defense.

All that said, Freeze’s key to the game on Saturday is avoiding playing behind the chains.

Between Mississippi State’s defense and the struggles Auburn’s offense has had converting third downs this season, getting into third-and-short or third-and-manageable situations will be a factor to watch.

“If we get behind the chains, it’s going to be a long night,” Freeze said Thursday.

Can the Auburn defense pitch a shutout?

Auburn veteran defensive back Jaylin Simpson said Tuesday that the Tigers’ defense has one goal.

“From a defensive standpoint, I know that we trying to go out there, we trying to get a shutout this week,” Simpson said. “That’s really all I know.”

The quarterback situation at Mississippi State is up in the air as senior Will Rogers’ status is unknown after suffering a shoulder injury against Western Michigan on Oct. 7.

In Rogers’ absence, it’s been fellow senior Mike Wright to take snaps for the Bulldogs.

“Will is a great player and we understand what he brings to the table as a passer and he’s a capable runner,” Auburn linebacker Eugene Asante said of Rogers. “I saw a little bit of the game, of (Wright), I believe. He has a different type of motor in terms of running the ball capabilities. So we’re taking all those things into account.”

Meanwhile, Mississippi State’s Jo’Quavious Marks has led the Bulldogs’ rushing attack with 514 yards and four touchdowns this season.

While the Bulldogs have averaged more than 26 points per game this season, they only managed seven last week in a 7-3 decision over Arkansas.