No. 5 UCLA continues to defy expectations after win over Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS – Time and time again, even as No. 5 UCLA continues to march every close to an undefeated season, there continues to be doubt.

Detractors lambast their schedule as being "too easy," that the Bruins have been untested and that once they play a team the national conscious deems a true threat, the expectation is that the Bruins will be exposed.

But Week 10 has come and passed, and the Bruins still stand on the mountaintop. 

The latest challenger was Minnesota on Saturday. Head coach Bob Chesney's Bruins new they were coming into a tough fight against a team that was 11-1 at home prior to Saturday and in the early parts of the game, that challenge was apparent.

UCLA jumped ahead early with a field goal and a touchdown by senior running back Wayne Knight on back-to-back drives to open the game with a 10-lead, but there was plenty of game left for the Golden Gophers to surge back.

Surge back they did. The Golden Gophers answered with a touchdown of their own early in the second quarter, before finishing the first half with a 38-yard field goal to tie the game back up 10-10 at halftime.

 UCLA's best weapons, the run game, was on full display against Minnesota. The Bruins ran for 163 yards on 39 attempts to try and overwhelm the Golden Gophers, but it wasn't the rush that provided the bulk of the Bruins' offense.

Big day from Dieffenbach

That came from the efforts of senior quarterback Ty Dieffenbach, who has continued to rise to the occasion after replacing injured senior quarterback Nico Iamaleava midseason. 

Dieffenbach threw for 303 yards on 8-16 attempts and connected on three passing touchdowns, one to sophomore tight end Noah Fox-Flores and two to senior wide receiver Aidan Mizell, one of UCLA's fastest-rising stars. 

Those touchdowns to Mizell were the truest signs of the momentum swing back in the Bruins' favor. After the Golden Gophers rallied to tie the game up at 17-17 early in the fourth quarter, the Dieffenbach-Mizell connection went to work in a big way. 

That way was two separate 75-yard receptions to Mizell on back-to-back drives for touchdowns. Dieffenbach hasn't been afraid to show off his arm in his time behind the snap for the Bruins, but Saturday's game was one of his best showings yet. 

He dotted both long passes to Mizell, who used his breakaway speed to evade Minnesota defenders down field and put himself in the best position he could to receive what Dieffenbach was giving out.

Defying expectations

Those two touchdowns proved to be the dagger and after senior kicker Mateen Bhaghani kicked one last 36-yard field goal with just over three minutes left in the game, the Bruins improved to a 34-20 lead and soon enough, a 34-20 win to improve to 9-0 record for the first time since 1998, which happens to be the last time UCLA won a conference title.

The weeks have rolled by and so have the doubts, but the Bruins continue to prove over and over that this time is very real. But as always, there's more work to be done and more negative voices to silence.