Chiles and VanSumeren not discouraged after USC loss
MSU knows they need to execute at a higher level to win games.
After suffering the first loss of the season - against the USC Trojans over the weekend - MSU starting quarterback Aidan Chiles acknowledged that his team knows how to handle adversity and needs to be able to finish out a game like that.
“We know we can face adversity,” Chiles said. “We know that. We just have to finish, it's as simple as that. We came out in the second half strong, came out strong in the third quarter, and played football. We were down seven and just didn’t finish.”
The Spartan defense struggled mightily with the USC offense; the Trojans put up 523 yards of offense compared to the Spartans' 337.
Defensive tackle Alex VanSumeren agreed that the team needs to execute in order to pull away in games in the future.
“We didn’t execute,” he said. “At the end of the day, it is a one or a zero, and today it was a zero. We have got to be better, we know that. We have to be cleaner on defense and everywhere as a whole. We will come back, watch the tape, get better from it and roll again.”
An issue on defense for Michigan State was the long-yardage plays they were giving up. USC had no trouble moving the ball up and down the field, as they scored on all but three of their drives in the game.
Going into the game, USC led the Big Ten in both yards per game and points per game - and it showed on the scoreboard.
While VanSumeren acknowledged the explosiveness of the Trojan offense, he mentioned that he does not think the Spartans did their job to the best of their capabilities.
