Chiles named starting QB, will debut vs. South Dakota State
Aidan Chiles won the job and a captaincy in the same week, Northwestern's stadium and staff got a $35 million vote of confidence, and the opener is a live one against an FCS heavyweight.
Chiles is QB1, and Braun already trusts him with the room
Northwestern named Aidan Chiles its starting quarterback on August 24, and coach David Braun confirmed the senior transfer will make his debut against South Dakota State on September 5, according to Pete Thamel. Chiles arrives by way of Michigan State — and Oregon State before that — carrying 4,126 career passing yards and 27 touchdowns, the kind of resume that made this less a competition than a formality by fall camp.
Two days after winning the job, Chiles was voted one of six team captains, and Braun explained the pick to the Daily Northwestern: "To be voted a team captain I think is a reflection of his ability to come in and build relationships very quickly on this football team and then a certain level of assertiveness and command that he's taken over this offense." Back at Big Ten Media Days in July, Braun had put it more bluntly: "We brought Aidan in for a reason — to elevate the quarterback room. I still think there's a lot of really good competition in that room."
Last season ended on a four-game rollercoaster, then a rout
Northwestern finished last season by hammering Central Michigan 34-7 on December 26, a lopsided send-off after a Big Ten stretch that never let the Wildcats get comfortable. They lost 38-17 at USC in November, beat Michigan — well, lost that one too, 24-22 — then rallied for a 38-35 escape over Minnesota before dropping the finale at Illinois, 20-13, ahead of the bowl blowout.
None of that carries into this season in any literal sense — the record is 0-0 and there is no current run to point to — but it is the version of this program the new staff inherited: capable of playing anyone tight, capable of blowing a team out, and short on the games that turn 2-3 stretches into results. That is the gap Chip Kelly and Chiles are being brought in to close.
A $35 million gift and a new stadium say Northwestern means business
On August 11, Pete Thamel reported that Northwestern had received a commitment for a $35 million gift from the family of Liz and Dick Uihlein, spread over the next three years and earmarked for "holistic football success" — recruiting support and broader program needs. The family's statement made the civic pitch directly: "As multigenerational Chicagoans, we love this city and want to see it thrive... Chicago loves sports and we need Wildcat Football to be competitive."
Thamel tied the gift to the same wave of spending that hired offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and is building the new Ryan Field at a cost north of $850 million. Braun called the stadium a "transformative... new-age Roman Colosseum" in comments to ESPN, adding, "There's no greater visual to what level of investment we're putting into football than that." A program that spent a decade being the Big Ten's scrappy overachiever is suddenly spending like it wants to be something else.
The opener isn't a warm-up — South Dakota State is an FCS heavyweight
South Dakota State is not a name Northwestern fans should skim past. The Jackrabbits have won two of the last four FCS national championships and reached the playoffs 14 straight years, and they bring a physical, ground-and-pound identity that is built to eat clock against a Big Ten defense breaking in new pieces. Their only reference point in this payload is a 29-50 loss at Montana in the 2025 season — not this year's team, but a reminder they can be had if the Wildcats' front seven wins the line of scrigmage.
Northwestern opened as a 12.5-point favorite at home, with the total set at 46.5 — a number that reads more like a defensive struggle than a shootout, fitting for a team trying to establish a new starting quarterback against a defense that isn't afraid to sell out against the run. Kickoff is on September 5 vs. South Dakota State at Northwestern Medicine Field, the first real look at what Chiles and Chip Kelly's offense actually are.