Following Michigan State's 38-7 loss to Ohio State on Saturday night, the Spartans’ quarterback, Aidan Chiles, was not available for comments. Here's what head coach Jonathan Smith and running back Nate Carter had to say about the performance of their starting quarterback.
Coach Smith started the postgame press conference with his own opening remarks. Then during the questions, he was of course asked about Chiles' performance overall. Smith shared that he was happy with what he saw in the first half.
"I thought he was throwing the ball really well in the first half, seeing it," Smith shared about Chiles. "Overall in the first half, we were pleased with Aidan’s play."
Following MSU's 23-19 loss at Boston College, the theme surrounding many of the questions about Chiles focused on "bouncing back.”
"He's competitive, going to have some ups and downs, just like every player," Smith continued about Chiles. "I thought he came with a great mindset [on Saturday].”
In particular, Smith was asked about Chiles' interception against the Buckeyes during the second half. He shared that although he thought Chiles made a few good decisions to throw the ball away under pressure, this play was an example of a time that "chucking the ball out of bounds" would have been a better decision.
Next up to take questions following Smith was running back Nate Carter.
"It hurts, getting blown out in our house, and it happened," Carter said. "It is what it is. We've got to learn from it, we have to move on, and you can't sit in this."
Talking specifically about Chiles, Carter shared nothing but praise for the starting quarterback.
"Aidan has no quit in him at all," Carter declared. "He's going to come back every single day. He's gonna work. He's very, very self aware. He owns his mistakes. He owns the things that he does wrong, and he comes back to work and fixes them. That's the mindset for our whole entire offense that he leads.
"We revolve around him, and it's encouraging to see him come back from a lot of mistakes, and come back from a tough game, and be able to be like, ‘You know what, that happened, but now it's on to the next play.’”
On the opposite end of the spectrum of experience was OSU's quarterback, Will Howard. Having transferred in as a graduate student to OSU from Kansas State, Howard brings a veteran mindset to the game.
Howard's comment echoed many of the themes made during Michigan State's postgame press conference.
"Ended up just kind of rushing a decision and forced it in there," Howard said when asked about his own interception in the first half to Michigan State linebacker Jordan Turner. "But that's something we can learn from, and the thing that I am most proud of is that nobody batted an eye. Those guys came over to me on the sidelines and were like, ‘Dude, you're fine,' and I was like, 'I'm not worried about it.' Nobody's worried about it. We bounced right back.
"Mental toughness is the ability to move on to the next most important thing."
The Spartans will need to move on quickly themselves as a short week ahead awaits. MSU is on the road against No. 6 Oregon on Friday night. Kickoff is scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern Time, 6 p.m. local, with the game being broadcast on FOX.
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