Auburn first-year head coach Hugh Freeze knows Saturday’s game against Cal will be a challenge.

That challenge starts on Thursday as he and the Tigers pile onto a plane for a 4.5-hour ride over to Berkeley, arriving late Thursday night.

Once Saturday’s late-night kickoff was scheduled, Freeze tried to change Auburn’s itinerary and leave The Plains on Friday. However, the plane had already been set to be used by an NFL team, Freeze said during the SEC teleconference Wednesday afternoon.

“We’re going to go as late as they would allow on Thursday,” Freeze said. “And try to get there fairly late in hopes that we can sleep in a little bit on Friday with the body on Central Time. Don’t know if that’s right, but that’s our plan.”

Adjusting to the time difference and shaking off a hefty day of traveling is just half the battle, however.

Come Saturday night, Freeze knows his team will be lacing it up against a much stouter opponent than the Tigers did in Week 1 against UMass.

“We will be certainly tested with this trip to Cal, who has a very, very explosive offense and very, very solid defense,” Freeze said.

The Cal Golden Bears are set to return home to Memorial Stadium on Saturday after beating North Texas on the road 58-21.

In their win last week, the Golden Bears’ offense totaled 669 yards of offense with a balanced approach that saw Cal rush for 357 yards and pass for 312.

“Offensively, they’re really scary, Freeze said of the Golden Bears in his press conference Monday. “The tailback, he’s one of the best ones I’ve seen.”

The tailback Freeze was referring to is Cal sophomore Jaydn Ott, who carried the ball 20 times against North Texas and tallied 188 rushing yards – good for an average of 9.4 yards per carry. Ott also finished with a pair of touchdowns, of which one he scored from 66 yards out.

“Just hand it to him,” Freeze said of Ott. “I mean, it isn’t like they have created some special deal, just run inside zone or outside zone or counter with him, and if it’s semi-blocked well he’s a handful. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s got great vision. He is really, really talented.”

And generally, after Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said Tuesday that starting quarterback Sam Jackson was “day-to-day” with an upper body injury, one might expect the Golden Bears to turn to the ground game should Jackson not be able to go.

However, Freeze isn’t expecting that to be the case after watching the way the Cal offense operated in Jackson’s absence last week.

After Jackson went down early in the second quarter after having just taken 18 snaps, Cal turned to redshirt sophomore Ben Finley to take over under center.

“The first kid… gosh he’s an athlete and can obviously throw and run,” Freeze said of Jackson. “Then Finley came in and didn’t miss a beat throwing. He may not be quite the athlete that the other kid is and he’s probably not, but he sure was efficient.”

Prior to exiting last Saturday’s game against North Texas, Jackson went 3-for-4 through the air for 33 yards and added 18 rushing yards on three carries.

Meanwhile, Finley picked apart the North Texas defense as he threw for 279 yards on a 24-for-35 passing effort with a touchdown and an interception.

“I don’t know their plan as to whether they’ll use both or one or the other,” Freeze said. “But we have to prepare for both of them.”