For the first time in his college career, Ty Dieffenbach eclipsed 300 passing yards in a game. The UCLA Bruins needed it too, with Dieffenbach reaching the mark thanks to a pair of 75-yard touchdown passes in the fourth quarter of UCLA’s 34-20 win over Minnesota in Week 10.
It was a successful showing for UCLA’s passing attack with Dieffenbach’s arm showing up in crucial spots for the Bruin offense. Dieffenbach hasn’t played a ton of college football, spending two seasons as a backup with Pittsburgh before spending 2025 as Cal Poly’s starting quarterback.
Since taking over for Nico Iamaleava, Dieffenbach has 116 passing attempts, an identical amount that Iamaleava had before suffering a season-ending injury, which makes this a perfect time to
compare the two Bruin quarterbacks.
The two quarterbacks haven’t been too far off from each other statistically. Dieffenbach has 986 yards, just more than Iamaleava’s 982. Iamaleava completed more of his passes though, with a completion percentage of 62.1 compared to 57.8 for Dieffenbach.
Iamaleava completed a few more passes to opposing defenses, with four interceptions compared to only two for Dieffenbach. Dieffenbach added more passing touchdowns too, with six compared to four for Iamaleava. Both quarterbacks added one rushing touchdown but Iamaleava had more yardage, with 144 to just 25 for Dieffebach.
It’s hard to quantify how the change from Iamaleava to Dieffenbach has affected the UCLA rushing attack but it’s worth noting that Dieffenbach has been facing Big Ten defenses, with the exception of Nevada. Iamaleava had nonconference games against Cal and San Diego State.
Dieffenbach threw for a high of 263 yards last year with Cal Poly, throwing for just 1,305 on the season for nine touchdowns and nine interceptions. He’s been better as a Bruin, limiting mistakes while leading UCLA to their past five victories. UCLA will hope that the Los Angeles area native can lead the Bruins to their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Comparing Nico Iamaleava and Ty Dieffenbach through 116 pass attempts
