UCLA is riding high off a road win over Oregon and its first 5-0 start since 2022. First-year coach Bob Chesney has injected new energy into the Bruins that has the college football world talking. The preseason expectations, which might have been as simple as making a bowl, have already been significantly heightened.
Midway through the season, UCLA now has the 14th-best playoff odds in the country, according to CBS Sports' forecasting and projections team. With an easy schedule that includes only one ranked opponent (No. 19 USC) remaining, one could easily talk themselves into UCLA being this year's version of that 2024 Indiana team. And then disaster struck when veteran quarterback Nico Iamaleava went down with a significant knee injury against the Ducks.
CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz reported Monday that Iamaleava is expected to miss the rest of the season. If you haven't watched UCLA at all this season, the loss of Iamaleava is significant. The former five-star recruit had elevated his play under Chesney and was positioning himself to possibly be a Day 2 NFL Draft pick next year.
Before the injury, Iamaleava had thrown for 982 passing yards and four touchdowns. Iamaleava's injury is the reason you won't see UCLA listed in our College Football Playoff bracket projections below. Cal Poly transfer quarterback Ty Dieffenbach, who has thrown six passes for the Bruins this season, has massive shoes to fill.
Getting a resurgent Wisconsin team in his first start for the Bruins isn't an easy task, either. If there's a silver lining from a playoff committee standpoint, the injury occurred early enough in the season that, should UCLA continue to win at a high rate, it shouldn't be penalized for it. Florida State was famously left out of the 2023 four-team playoff after starting quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending injury in the second-to-last week of the regular season.
FSU didn't have enough time to prove it was just as capable without Travis -- if it could ever do so in the committee's eyes -- and was left out in favor of Alabama. That shouldn't be the case for UCLA. Dieffenbach and the Bruins have upcoming chances against Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota, Michigan and USC to prove they are playoff-worthy.
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