AUBURN | Auburn’s offensive players built up a lot of confidence putting up 73 points against Alabama A&M.

But they face an entirely different opponent this week in California, a team that nearly beat them a year ago.

It’ll certainly be a step forward in competition for every player on that side of the ball, especially for a young group of wide receivers.

“They're really confident right now, I'm sure. After Saturday, we'll see,” said AU coach Hugh Freeze. “We don't run from that. Here's your chance -- our chance, not just them, but us, too, as coaches.

“Here's our chance to prove we can be a fundamentally efficient scoring machine against a team I think plays really efficient defensive football. It'll be a really good test for us.”

Auburn brought in four highly-regarded freshmen and three experienced transfers at the receiver position during the offseason. They all played a big part in Payton Thorne throwing for 322 yards and four touchdowns in the first half and AU totaling 451 passing yards, the second-most in school history.

“I don’t think I have to tell them that. I think they know that,” said Thorne of the upgrade in competition. “I can’t remember the last time and team averaged 73 points a game. I would have to imagine they know things are going to be more difficult, especially in this league with the teams we play.

“This week Cal has a good defense, good team. We’ll put a good week of practice together and do our best to go out there and execute and enjoy ourselves out there on Saturday.”

Freeze said Auburn ran a pretty basic offense against Alabama A&M but will ramp up the complexity this week. How much to add to the attack is a point of discussion, however.

“It's going to be more challenging as you move forward against more equitable competition, and we're working hard (Monday) morning on trying to figure out what that looks like for us this week, and what our young kids can handle,” said Freeze.

“Because us coaches, we get in there and we've got a thousand things on the board that all look good, but that's impossible for that to all be a part of it. I think that's the greatest challenge we have right now. Let's hone in on the things that we know they can do and maybe present different pictures of how we get there. Hopefully that'll continue to grow confidence, and we can continue to add more as we move forward."

Kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2.