MSU's Chiles' Maturity, Decision-Making Will Be Put to the Test
The Michigan State Spartans are looking to rebound from their first loss of the season as they take on the No. 3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes at Spartan Stadium.
Unfortunately for Michigan State and Jonathan Smith, they will face one of the best teams in college football, one they have not beaten since 2015.
It will take a full team effort – and probably a great deal of luck -- to pull off the upset.
More importantly, it will take an improved performance from Michigan State’s star quarterback, Aidan Chiles.
While there have been plenty of moments of brilliance from Chiles’ first full season as a starter, there have been plenty more head-scratching and frustrating moments.
Chiles has thrown seven interceptions in four games, which is tied for the second-most in college football. Footwork issues and bad decisions from Chiles have resulted in costly turnovers.
It is easy to forget how talented Chiles is when he makes back-breaking mistakes. However, this was always going to be the season for him to figure things out and work his way through his technical issues.
Inversely, the mistakes are still costly, and he needs to work on them. As the schedule toughens, Chiles’ margin for error becomes much smaller if the Spartans want to pull off any upsets in this gauntlet stretch.
Michigan State’s first test is this Saturday against one of the top defenses in the country. Ohio State has several ball-hawking safeties, so Chiles must be able to manipulate those safeties with his eyes and throw his receivers open.
After the Buckeyes, Michigan State travels to Eugene to take on the Oregon Ducks. Dan Lanning’s team has not played to its standards this year, but the talent gap between the two teams is still significant, especially defensively.
Chiles will be up against it taking on this Ducks’ defense, led by one of the most tenacious defensive coaches in the country in Lanning.
The Spartans then have a game against the Iowa Hawkeyes. As long as Phil Parker is the defensive coordinator, the Hawkeyes will always be elite defensively.
After that, Michigan State takes on its biggest rivals, the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan is not as good defensively as in 2023, but still excellent on that side of the ball.
Nothing will be easy for Chiles over the next four weeks. His turnover issues must be solved -- or at least significantly improved on -- for the Spartans to have a shot in any of those games.
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CARTER LANDIS