Aidan Chiles rallies Michigan State, leads drive for game-winning FG vs. Maryland
Aidan Chiles made his first Big Ten road start in Week 2, and he experienced all the struggles and hiccups one might expect from a young player. However, he saved his best moments for the fourth quarter and rallied Michigan State to a win over Maryland.
Late in the fourth quarter, Chiles delivered a massive game-tying touchdown with a 77-yard bomb to Nick Marsh. That tied the game at 24-all, and the Spartans would get one final shot to beat Maryland.
On that final drive, Chiles was electric and was able to put his early mistakes behind him. He went 4-for-5 with 37 yards through the air and carried the ball 3 times for 10 yards, accounting for 47 of the 65 yards needed to get into field goal range.
Michigan State would turn to Jonathan Kim for the game-winning field goal, and he was nails. Kim’s kick split the uprights with 1 second left on the clock, sending the Spartans to a 2-0 start and Jonathan Smith’s first B1G win as a head coach.
KIM is HIM 🤩
To seal the @MSU_Football
dub: a 37 yard FG from Jonathan Kim.#B1GFootball pic.twitter.com/cNKKxugnXo— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 7, 2024
In spite of 3 interceptions, Chiles finishes the game 24-for-39 for 363 yards and 3 touchdowns. He was able to spread the ball around, connecting with a trio of Spartan receivers for 6+ catches each.
The struggles of Chiles are to be expected for any young player, but the ball certainly jumps off his hand with the deep ball. He gives Michigan State a major X factor heading into the rest of September, and the Spartans may be able to pull off an upset or two behind Chiles.