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Ty Dieffenbach spent two full seasons at Pitt and never played a single down. Last season he was in the FCS, at Cal Poly. Today he came off the bench at halftime in Eugene and threw the touchdown that beat the Oregon Ducks. Here is how he got there. He is from Calabasas, California, and he went to Agoura High School. He did not even play quarterback at first. He was a wide receiver. He did not start at the position until his sophomore year of high school. He also pitched for the baseball team and they named him the team MVP. Once he got the job he threw for 4,153 yards and 48 touchdowns over three seasons. As a junior he went for 2,669 and 34 and made all state. ESPN had him as the 95th best player in California. Then he went to Pitt in 2023, and he sat. He redshirted as a freshman. The next year he did not get into a game either. Two seasons, zero snaps. So he dropped down a level and went to Cal Poly, where he finally started nine games and threw for 1,305 yards. Then UCLA hired Bob Chesney away from James Madison, and Chesney brought in 28 transfers, and Dieffenbach was one of them. He was there to be the backup. Nico Iamaleava was the starter. Now here is today. UCLA went into Eugene ranked 21st to play the 13th ranked team in the country. UCLA was 4 and 0. And the first half was a mess. UCLA turned it over three times. Then Iamaleava got hurt late in the half. So Ty Dieffenbach, who had not played a meaningful down of major college football in his life, walked out for the second half on the road at Oregon. UCLA did not turn it over again. With 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter he threw a 9 yard touchdown to Wayne Knight, and UCLA led 17 to 6. Oregon came back. A field goal, then a 44 yard touchdown with two and a half minutes to go, and then they went for two to tie it. They did not get it. UCLA 17, Oregon 15. The Bruins are 5 and 0. Now the honest part, because somebody will say it in the comments and they will be right. Oregon turned the ball over six times. Four fumbles and two interceptions. UCLA held the ball for 37 minutes to Oregon's 19 and still almost lost. And Dieffenbach is only out there because the starter got hurt. Nobody is pretending otherwise. But two years ago he was a kid at Pitt who could not get on the field. Last year he was playing in front of a few thousand people at Cal Poly. Today he walked into Autzen Stadium at halftime and won a game. His father played basketball at Eastern Washington. There are two brothers at home. Somewhere in Calabasas, a family just watched the backup throw the one that mattered.