What a first start it was for Ty Dieffenbach. In his first start as a UCLA Bruin, Dieffenbach never seemed rattled, calmly leading UCLA to a 17-7 win over Wisconsin to improve the team to 6-0 on the season.
It’s been a windy path through college football for Dieffenbach, spending two seasons with Pittsburgh without ever playing, playing one season with Cal Poly as their starter where he threw as many interceptions as he did touchdowns. That path led him to UCLA and on Saturday it led him to the Rose Bowl, where Dieffenbach played the star.
Even without throwing for a touchdown, Dieffenbach still looked the part. The 6’6” quarterback completed 67% of his passes and threw for 264 yards with his only turnover being completely inconsequential, as he threw a hail mary from midfield on the final play of the first half which was intercepted.
Here’s what Dieffenbach said after his big game Saturday night, including what he thought on his mammoth third down conversion from his own end zone late in the game.
“Just confidence in my receivers, confidence in my O-line. We’ve probably thrown that throw more than 100 times now starting in January. The receivers believing in me and me believing in them, it goes a huge way,” Dieffenbach said. “In the fourth quarter when we’re doing the ‘California Love’, five years ago I’m sitting in the stands watching guys do this, now I’m there. It was special.”
Dieffenbach may be a first-year Bruin but he knows what he’s doing, even managing in a USC jab during his postgame press conference.
“My older brother went to school here, he wasn’t an athlete but just coming to the games with him, seeing that team in ‘21 and ‘22 just do what they did, it was inspirational,” Dieffenbach said of his UCLA ties. “Growing up here, you want to play for UCLA, you don’t want to play for USC where I’m from. That was a big thing for me.”
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: 'You want to play for UCLA' Ty Dieffenbach speaks on his first start