Aidan Chiles' first game in a Northwestern uniform didn't look like a coronation for a half — then the Wildcats buried South Dakota State under a 17-point fourth quarter to close it out 34-18.
David Braun handed the keys to Chiles, the Michigan State transfer, for his Northwestern debut, and the early returns were shakier than a -600 moneyline suggested they'd be. South Dakota State, fresh off hanging 70 points on Stetson behind quarterback Chase Mason, matched Northwestern step for step into the second quarter — part of why Braun's team needed the whole night to actually pull away.
+Chiles arrives with Big Ten starting experience from Michigan State
−Brand-new quarterback with zero snaps in the uniform
−first-ever meeting meant no scouting history either way
This was the first-ever meeting between these two programs, so neither staff had a scouting report to lean on beyond a week-old tape. Northwestern's built around size on both lines, and that edge showed up as fatigue set in — the Wildcats started winning the trench battle in the second half even as SDSU's skill talent kept the scoreboard honest into the third quarter.
The total had steamed hard in the days before kickoff, one hint the market saw scoring coming from both sides of this one. It got that scoring, just not evenly distributed — Northwestern's offensive front gave Chiles clean pockets once the game opened up, and it was that beef in the trenches, not one explosive play, that turned a tight game at the break into a rout.
It was 10-6 Wildcats at halftime, still very much a game, before Northwestern outscored South Dakota State 24-12 the rest of the way. Braun improved to 4-0 in home openers with the win, and Chiles' debut ended with the offense finding its rhythm exactly when it needed to — even if it took 30 minutes to get there.
For South Dakota State, the step up from an FCS cupcake to a Big Ten front seven was always going to be the real test, and the Jackrabbits didn't fold — Chase Mason's offense scored in three of four quarters against a Power Four defense. For Northwestern, the opener is now in the books and a fuller Big Ten schedule is what actually tells the story of this Chiles experiment.
