MSU's Chiles Provides Needed Source of Optimism after USC Loss

Originally posted on Michigan State Spartans on SI
By Jacob Cotsonika | Last updated Sep 22, 2025 6:00 PM ET

It's easy to quickly look for all the negative things after a loss. There were plenty of wrongs about Michigan State's 45-31 defeat at USC on Saturday night. For example, it should never be acceptable for the Spartans' defense to allow 45 points in 10 possessions.

MSU showed plenty of fight in that game and had a mild comeback effort, but the Spartans didn't have the ball with the chance to tie the game at any point in the second half. The Trojans were in control pretty much the whole way.

There are reasons to have some cautious optimism, though. The biggest of those is quarterback Aidan Chiles, who had 247 total yards, four touchdowns, and no turnovers in the game against USC.

During this edition of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast, we break down why Chiles being a source of optimism is so important for MSU and its season.

Watch here:

Below is also a partial transcript of Chiles' press conference following the USC game, which was alongside defensive tackle Alex VanSumeren.

Transcript

Q: Just for both you guys, what did you learn about yourselves as a team today? Obviously, the injuries, Wayne (Matthews III) going to the hospital, Jordan (Hall) gets called for targeting, going down 21 points, what did you come out of this with?

CHILES: I mean, we know we can face adversity, like, we know that. It's just, we just gotta finish, right, simple as that. We came out in the second half strong, came out in third quarter, we played football, down seven, and then didn't finish. That's what it is.

VanSUMEREN: Like you said, man, we didn't execute. At the end of the day, it's one or zero, and it was a zero. We gotta be better, we know that. We gotta be cleaner on defense, everywhere as a whole. We'll come back, we'll watch the tape, we'll get better from it, and we'll roll again.

Q: In the second half, it looked like you guys had better success at stopping the run. Do you agree with that? What allowed you to do that?

VanSUMEREN: I really don't know. It's kind of hard for me to know out there. But, you know, big thing with Coach (Joe) Rossi is just making halftime adjustments. And just trusting the coaches and whatever they say, we go out there and try to execute to the best of our abilities.

Q: What were the adjustments you tried to make (to prevent big plays)?

VanSUMEREN: You know, I'm not gonna speak about that right here. I'm gonna keep that in house. But, you know, at the end of the day, we just didn't execute. We weren't good enough.