Michigan State Fighting Through Growing Pains
Michigan State traveled to Oregon on Friday, hoping to, at the very least, have a respectable game against an Oregon team that is one of the best teams in the country. Oregon dominated the game in nearly every possible way, winning by a score of 31-10.
While they may have lost by multiple scores, the Spartans had a chance to get off to a good start with a strong opening drive. Michigan State’s first drive was an eight-play, 65-yard drive that spanned over four minutes.
The Spartans put together a successful opening drive, but quarterback Aidan Chiles fumbled the ball on Oregon’s two-yard line, stifling Michigan State's chances of taking an early 7-0 lead.
Instead of jumping out to an early 7-0 lead, Michigan State would go into halftime down 21-0. Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith tried to keep Chiles in good spirits, reminding the young quarterback that mistakes happen and that they still had plenty of time left against Oregon.
"What we specifically talked about after he put it on the ground, there's a long game in front of us, man,” Smith said after the loss. "You have got to be able to learn from it and move forward. That's what we talked about."
After Chiles struggled in yet another game, Smith made it clear his goal was to help Chiles maintain his confidence. However, with the Spartans coming off their third consecutive loss, Smith emphasized that Chiles is not the only one whose confidence will need to be solidified over the bye week.
"Not just Aidan,” Smith said. “You look at this offense, everyone involved. Not just the players, the coaches, right? We're going to stick together and find ways to do it better. I'm confident – these guys keep working – we'll improve, and we need to."
Michigan State swapped Chiles out for quarterback Tommy Schuster late in the game against Oregon after scoring a touchdown. Smith said Chiles was taken out of the game at that point because the game was out of hand, and there was no need for the Spartans to have their quarterback on the field still.
"You're back and forth,” Smith said. “Tommy works hard as well and got to a situation where we wanted to give him some time. Aidan had just finished a scoring drive. The game was three or four scores at that point. We weren't thinking much about [Chiles'] psyche putting Tommy in. It just felt like the right time to do it."
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Ezekiel is a former Sports Editor from the Western Herald and former Atlanta Falcons beat writer.