Michigan State's Aidan Chiles throws the ball against Rutgers during the fourth quarter on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

MSU's Chiles Reflects on 'Embarrassing' Season-Finale Loss Last Year

Originally posted on Michigan State Spartans on SI
By Jacob Cotsonika | Last updated Aug 27, 2025 12:02 PM ET

The ending to Michigan State's 2024 season could not have been more miserable.

It feels like a distant memory now, but the Spartans had a golden opportunity to reach bowl eligibility on the 12th and final game of the regular season at home against a Rutgers squad that entered with an extremely beatable 6-5 record.

A win would have been a milestone and a giant step for head coach Jonathan Smith towards returning the program to real respectability in Year 1.

Instead, the Scarlet Knights completely dismantled the Spartans on their home turf. Snow flurries came down the entire game to a reported crowd of about 50,000 that was probably more like 5,000 when the final snaps of the game were taken.

Aidan Chiles' Words

"I said the same thing I said to the press, 'It's not going to look the same next year,'" junior quarterback Aidan Chiles said about what he told his teammates after that game. "If we've got to do it without some of the guys that were in that room, then we had to, and that's what happened. You know, it is what it is.

"It was embarrassing, honestly. We talked about it; it was embarrassing. But it is what it is. We need that; we needed to feel that so that we can come with a chip on our shoulder this year."

Chiles' words to the press were really more memorable than anything that happened during the game for MSU. The Spartans scored on their opening drive, but then Rutgers scored 34 straight points to put the game well out of reach, with the final score being 41-14.

"We came out hot and I think we --- I think it's this consistent thing of having this mentality of we don't know how to finish games, you know?" Chiles had said after the loss. "We come in, maybe we score our first drive and, 'OK, we got it in the bag, so we've got to just ease off,' or maybe we're just like, 'Maybe I don't want to play.'

"Maybe it's the attitude. I don't know what the attitude is. I don't have the attitude, so I've never seen that before, and it's sickening, actually. It's disheartening. I don't like that feeling; I don't like that mentality at all and things need to change.

"So, to the fans that stayed at the game through the whole game and the whole season, this will not be the same next year, and I can promise you that."

Well, "next year" has now become this year. Chiles' second season as Michigan State's starter officially begins this Friday against Western Michigan. Kickoff is set for 7:05 p.m. ET and will be televised on FS1.