Michigan State QB Aidan Chiles Underperforms in Game 1

© Dale Young-USA TODAY Sports

Michigan State (1-0) fans headed into the 2024 season filled with optimism even though Las Vegas had the over/under win total for the Spartans set at 4.5 wins. The optimism didn’t just come from having a new head coach, it came from having a new leader at the most important position on the field—quarterback. 

New MSU quarterback Aidan Chiles followed head coach Jonathan Smith over from Oregon State, and was considered one of the top young QBs in the Transfer Portal. At the time is was considered a win for Smith to get him to East Lansing, Mich.

After the first game and fans got their first look at their new QB, is that optimism already starting to fade? To Say Chiles's performance was underwhelming would be an understatement. But even with Chiles's struggles, Michigan State was still able to find a way to win 16-10 against the FAU Owls (0-1) .

Chiles needs to be the "x-factor" for Michigan State. But agains the Owls he wasn’t. Instead, it was the defense who came up big every time Michigan State needed a play. But this is only Game 1 for Chiles and being a sophomore there will be growing pains. It's how he overcomes those growing pains that will define him.

Throwing Struggles

It didn’t take long for Chiles to make his first mistake in the game as he would threw an interception on the very first offensive play of the game. In the game, Chile would throw 2 total interceptions, which is not a stat fans wanted to see. The second interception came in the red zone taking possible points off the board.

Chiles only completed 10 of the 24 passes he threw in the game for 114 yards. He ended the game with a Pro Football Focus (PFF) passer rating of 21.9. Chiles's struggles also led Michigan State to go just 3-for-13 on third downs. Chiles also failed to lead a scoring drive in the final two and a half quarters, forcing the defense to come up big time and time again.  

Chiles Shows Maturity

After the game, Chiles didn’t shy away from taking responsibility for his performance. 

“I’m taking full responsibility for everything that happened today,” he said.

That is what you want to see from a young QB—showing maturity and taking responsibility. Chiles has been put in a tough spot to lead a team at a very young age. And thanks to NIL deals, players no longer get the leeway of being treated as amateurs.

“I play football for a living and I didn’t come out and perform to my best today,” Chiles said.

Not everything was bad for Chiles as he did have moments where he showed his ability to make a play, like his 11-yard TD run in the second quarter. But just having moments are not good enough in this new era of college football. With NIL and the Portal, teams are expected to be good and compete right away. The Spartans will only go as far as Chiles takes them.

The pressure has increased on Chiles to prove he is the QB they thought, not the one he looked like in the first game. And with Michigan State opening Big Ten Conference play against Maryland on Sept. 7, Chiles doesn’t get much time to figure it out.