MSU's Chiles, VanSumeren Discuss 45-31 Setback to Trojans

Originally posted on Michigan State Spartans on SI
By Jacob Cotsonika | Last updated Sep 21, 2025 4:27 AM ET

Michigan State was in position to have a shot at winning down the stretch against USC late Saturday night and Sunday morning (out in the Midwest), but the Spartans ultimately fell 45-31 to the Trojans because of a few missed opportunities.

After the game, starting quarterback Aidan Chiles and Alex VanSumeren talked about the team's first loss of the 2025 season. Chiles had four total touchdowns on offense and VanSumeren made four tackles on defense.

You can find the full video of their press conference below.

Watch Aidan Chiles and Alex VanSumeren here:

Below is also a partial transcript of Chiles' and VanSumeren's press conference.

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.