The postgame conversation from UCLA’s win last night had a clear thread running through it: belief. Bob Chesney talked about it first, then his players backed him up with the kind of confidence that sounds less like a slogan and more like a locker room that’s starting to trust what it sees on Saturdays.
Chesney said the buy-in has to come from within.
“You’ve got to believe it yourself, ultimately. I think that’s the most important thing,” Chesney said.
“I believe in these guys. I told [the media] back in the spring that there’s fibers of a really high-level football team that exists within this program, and we just need to put it all together and test it in fire, and let them go out there and compete, and that’s just the way this program works.”
He added that the daily competition inside the program has helped the Bruins build toward that point.
“There's so much competition that goes on in a day-to-day basis that they could build their confidence and then a little more success and then build more confidence which leads to more success.
“When they end up with a failure, it’s never fatal or final. It’s a chance to refine them, not define them.
Those things are all things I just know that they live on a day-to-day basis out here. So even though it may look like ‘Uh-oh, this game could be in jeopardy a little bit’, they still believe because they’ve been in competitive situations so much.”
One of the biggest moments in the game came on defense, when UCLA stopped a fourth-down run that was initially ruled a first down before replay reversed it. Scott Taylor said the sideline didn’t even realize the stop had happened right away.
“I’d say that I wasn’t aware that we had stopped him. We had the defense getting ready to go back out there with a play being called.
So it was obviously nice for the change of news, but I think that play comes down to mentality,” Taylor said. “We know they’re running the ball.
They know that we know. So, it just comes down to who is going to get knocked back.
And [it was] great tackle by Sammy [Omosigho] and company.”
Ty Dieffenbach’s night also drew plenty of attention, and Mason Rivera had nothing but confidence in the quarterback. Rivera, who also transferred from Cal Poly, said Dieffenbach had already shown him enough to trust what he saw.
“Yeah, he has confidence. I think that a lot of people said it throughout the week,” Rivera said. “He was ready for this moment, and the second half at Oregon, same thing.”
“He’s just a good ballplayer. He’s a gamer, for sure, and he is ready to go,” he continued.
“I think that a lot of people are pretty happy with what he did today. I think it’s going to continue going forward.
“I saw it all last year when I played with him. He has the ability to throw it anywhere on the field, and he can tuck it and run,” he added. “So, he’s a good football player, and we trust him as our leader and our quarterback.”
Dieffenbach’s path to UCLA has an obvious parallel in John Barnes, another Southern California quarterback who came to Westwood after bouncing around. Dieffenbach spent two seasons at Pitt without appearing in a game, then transferred to Cal Poly last year and eventually won the starting job for the Mustangs.
In high school, Dean Kennedy had recruited him when Chesney and Kennedy were at Holy Cross. When Dieffenbach entered the portal last year, Kennedy reached out and helped bring him to UCLA.
Barnes’ story is the one Bruins fans still remember. In 1992, after transferring from UC Santa Barbara - his fourth school in five years - he arrived at UCLA in a jacket and tie to meet offensive coordinator Homer Smith. Smith had him do dropbacks in his dress shoes, and UCLA never put him on scholarship, though he did join as a walk-on.
That year turned into a rough one for Bruins quarterbacks. Wayne Cook, Rob Walker and Ryan Fien all got hurt, and Barnes ended up taking over.
His legend was forged against Southern Cal. UCLA trailed 31-17 entering the fourth quarter, but Barnes hit J.J.
Stokes for a 29-yard touchdown to get within seven with 12:49 left. He found Stokes again for 59 yards to tie it with 7:06 remaining, then connected with him one more time for 90 yards with 3:08 left.
Southern Cal scored with 41 seconds remaining, but its two-point try was denied when Bruin linebacker Nkosi Littleton deflected a pass from Brad Johnson, preserving the win.
Dieffenbach was asked about playing at UCLA and made it clear the appeal of staying close to home mattered to him.
“Obviously, growing up here, you want to go play for UCLA. you don't want to play for USC where I'm from.”
Then came the Barnes comparison. Ben Bolch asked Dieffenbach if he knew who Barnes was, and Dieffenbach answered, “I don't.
I don't know. Who's that?”
Bolch told him to look him up and learn the name.
That comparison is now part of Dieffenbach’s story, whether he knows it yet or not. Maybe somebody from Agoura Hills will send it his way before the next interview.
Still, the line of the night came from Landon Ellis, who had a blunt message for any Bruins fans still standing on the outside.
Jump on. Come on, man.
Chesney train. I think the progress that we’ve made from January when we all arrived to now is just out of this world.
I think it’d be really hard to go back into history and find teams that have turned around this fast. So, if you’re not all the way in, I don’t know what you’re doing, but I would get on it.
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