This post was updated Oct. 27 at 11:38 p.m.

The best job in football is often said to be the backup quarterback.

With only one person in that position on the field at any given time, you’re pretty much guaranteed a day off on Saturdays – or Sundays if you’re in the NFL – getting paid millions of dollars to watch your team from a perfect sideline view.

If you’re at UCLA, you get to earn a prestigious degree, relax in sunny Los Angeles and throw around the football in practice before watching a top-10-ranked squad coast through their schedule unscathed.

Or at least that might’ve been what Ty Dieffenbach thought he was signing up for after transferring to UCLA following a year with Cal Poly.

If you’re the senior quarterback, you now find yourself thrust into the starting role of the Big Ten’s last undefeated program – calling the plays for a Westwood squad with its best start since 2005. Stepping in for fellow senior signal-caller Nico Iamaleava, who was sidelined for the remainder of the 2026 season following an injury suffered Oct. 10 against Oregon, Dieffenbach has big shoes to fill.

And I don’t just mean Iamaleava’s 6-foot-5 frame.

Dieffenbach – who is 6-foot-6 himself – is currently 2-0 as the Bruins’ starter. 

But for a team with aspirations of making the College Football Playoff in its current format for the first time, Dieffenbach replacing Iamaleava begs the question as to whether or not those dreams are now harder to reach.

While the name value took a dive – Iamaleava was a five-star recruit out of high school compared to Dieffenbach’s three – it’s hard to say that UCLA’s offense has suffered dramatically.

Through four and a half games, Iamaleava threw for just 982 yards and has as many touchdowns as interceptions. Sure, he was picking up momentum after the first two games of the season, when he had zero passing touchdowns before accumulating four across the next two games. Nevertheless, it’s hard to say all of UCLA’s wins were because of the Long Beach local’s arm.

In two and a half games, Dieffenbach passed the halfway mark to Iamaleava’s total. In the Calabasas, California, local’s first start, Dieffenbach threw for 264 yards against Wisconsin on Oct. 17 – more than all but one of Iamaleava’s UCLA performances.

[Related: Ty Dieffenbach brings winning streak home in UCLA football win over Wisconsin]

Dieffenbach looks very poised out of the pocket in his small sample. He’s nowhere near the same kind of dual-threat athlete as Iamaleava, but the former Mustang’s ability to get multiple guys involved has brought a new dimension to the offense that was yet to be fully tapped into. Dieffenbach connected with eight different teammates for the Bruins’ most efficient passing game all year, including a career-high 84 receiving yards to senior wide receiver Semaj Morgan.

While he didn’t throw a touchdown against the Badgers, there’s a strong argument to be made that it was UCLA’s best performance through the air all year, which came on a night when the run game was uncharacteristically poor. Dieffenbach’s first two starts already account for two of the Bruins’ top-three games for most passing attempts – demonstrating the signal-caller’s fearlessness in slinging the rock.

Late in the third quarter Oct. 17, Dieffenbach was forced to scramble, after which he dotted a nice pass to fifth-year tight end Brayden Loftin, who was in a triangle of defenders to move the chains on a third-and-13. Dieffenbach’s poise would come up again on UCLA’s first possession of the fourth quarter, when the Bruins were backed up on a first-and-18, with the 6-foot-6 quarterback dropping back into his own end zone before finding senior wide receiver Landon Ellis on the sideline to convert in what was nearly triple coverage.

In general, the tape seems to show that offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy trusts Dieffenbach to make plays – a good sign that the backup isn’t getting his hand held on offense. Dieffenbach’s increasing comfort has translated in-game, with him wielding a nice dropback in pressure and developing his own cadence after evidently imitating Iamaleava’s one-leg kick up against Oregon.

Sure, Dieffenbach’s Michigan State performance left something to be desired, especially considering it was against a Spartans squad that has yet to secure a conference win. But after a scary hit heading into halftime where multiple defenders fell on his lower body, Dieffenbach fought back onto the field in the second half to have his best throw of the year, finding sophomore wide receiver Brian Rowe Jr. for a 63-yard touchdown.

[Related: UCLA football keeps its rhythm against Michigan State to stay undefeated 7-0]

All things considered, do I think Dieffenbach is better than Iamaleava? No.

But do I think Dieffenbach can still help the Bruins win in new ways? Well, I probably wouldn’t be writing this if I didn’t.

Don’t get me wrong. Just because I’d be willing to make the argument that Iamaleava hasn’t been the most significant reason why the Bruins are undefeated doesn’t also mean UCLA would rather not have him back. Dieffenbach simply doesn’t have the same arm strength or ability to extend plays as Iamaleava does.

However, losing Iamaleava doesn’t take away from what has really been winning the Bruins games – the ground attack and defense, both of which have barely faltered in the last few weeks – making his absence less pronounced than the headlines might have suggested.

As the Bruins inch closer and closer to a playoff berth, their chances have done anything but slide – the program is sitting at its best ranking since 2015. So as long as the rest of the team keeps doing what it’s been doing, I have little reason to see why Dieffenbach can’t continue leading the blue and gold.

So despite all the luxuries of being a backup quarterback, perhaps the only thing better is being the one who also steps up and wins.