On Sun, Oct 11, the Associated Press released its most recent college football Top 25 poll rankings and one of the teams that moved up the most on the list were the UCLA Bruins, who defeated the now-unranked Oregon Ducks 17-15 at Autzen Stadium. The Bruins are now 12th in the nation after moving up nine spots for their hard-earned victory at Oregon and with a 5-0 record, they are one of only two remaining unbeaten teams in the Big Ten Conference in terms of overall record. The defending champion Indiana Hoosiers are the other undefeated team in the Big Ten and they are currently positioned at the fifth spot in the rankings. The last time UCLA was ranked this high in the AP Poll for college football was on Oct 23, 2022 under former head coach Chip Kelly.
With Bob Chesney as the current head coach, the Bruins are playing with more spirit and intensity with plenty of key transfer players such as Wayne Knight, Landon Ellis, Sahir West, Derrick Barksdale, Ta’Shawn James and Brian Rowe Jr. But the UCLA football team has also dealt with injuries to other important players such as Mikey Matthews, Tao Johnson and Rodrick Pleasant, with plenty of defensive backs sustaining bumps and bruises in the win over the Ducks. However, the biggest injury that occurred in Eugene was sustained by Nico Iamaleava in the second quarter.
Iamaleava suffered another scary leg injury on a scramble play and he was also slapped in the helmet by Oregon defensive lineman Bear Alexander. Iamaleava has been hit hard several times in his lower extremities during his time as the starter for the Bruins and in almost every prior instance, he was able to return onto the field after being medically cleared. But on Oct 10, things were different as Iamaleava did return initially for a third down pass play where he threw an interception into the end zone. Chesney even said in his halftime on-field interview with CBS Sports sideline reporter Jenny Dell that Iamaleava was fine. But at the start of the second half, backup QB Ty Dieffenbach entered the game and Iamaleava was seen walking back onto the field with his jersey off. Dieffenbach did the best he could and helped lead a crucial TD drive, with the Bruins defense holding off the Ducks and securing the win.
But Iamaleava’s status was unknown until today. According to ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel, Iamaleava will be out for an indefinite period of time with a “knee injury”. The UCLA athletic directory staff did not disclose the exact nature of Iamaleava’s injury, but if it is a severe injury, then he might have a torn ACL or MCL. The indefinite status of Iamaleava’s absence could indicate that his injury is being taken seriously by the athletic training staff on the Bruins’ coaching staff. Any final timeline on a possible recovery for Iamaleava will depend on an upcoming medical evaluation.
With Iamaleava out, the coaching staff on the offensive end will have to adjust their playbook and tailor it towards Dieffenbach, who showed an ability to scramble outside the pocket despite his tall 6’6″ frame. As a senior transfer from Cal Poly, Dieffenbach played in 11 games last season for the Mustangs and completed 57% of his passes for 1,305 yards and nine touchdowns paired with nine interceptions. Dieffenbach also ran for 321 rushing yards and scored four touchdowns with his legs in 2025. Leading steady drives that mostly ended in punts in the second half of the Oregon game, Dieffenbach will assumably be named the starter in the next game for UCLA, which occurs on Sat, Oct 17 at the Rose Bowl Stadium against a 4-1 Wisconsin Badgers team that upset the then-13th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions on the road 24-20 on Sept 26 and they are coming off a bye week.
Chesney and offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy will need to draw up some more creative pass plays for Dieffenbach, who thankfully has the luxury of relying on a strong rushing attack spearheaded by Knight and complimented by Anthony Woods and Jaivian Thomas. Dieffenbach completed a passing touchdown to Knight in the fourth quarter of the Week 6 victory and will have a big chance to prove himself a good backup against a couple of mediocre opponents in Michigan State and Nevada before facing a harder test on the road against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Sat, Nov 7. Dieffenbach’s main backup at QB is likely to be Madden Iamaleava, who did appear in relief of his older brother in a couple of earlier games in September due to Nico getting hurt. Madden’s passing abilities at the Division I level are mostly untested and Dieffenbach has more experience in getting practice reps than the younger Iamaleava does.
The Bruins’ College Football Playoff chances hang in the balance and losing the face of the program to a devastating injury diagnosis will be hard to overcome. But if they can continue playing the way they have so far in Chesney’s first season and maintain a stellar record in conference games, the Bruins can potentially make it to their first-ever Big Ten Conference Championship game, which is an automatic CFP-berth game with the readjusted 12-team format guaranteeing a spot in the playoff to the winners of each of the Power 4 conference title games. UCLA has their best chance to compete for a championship in football in almost 30 years and they are still a dangerous team to be reckoned with, whether Nico Iamaleava is healthy for them or not.
Leave a Reply