Slowly but surely, Aidan Chiles is growing as Michigan State's QB1

For the first four weeks of the season, it felt like Aidan Chiles was boom or bust.

In the opener, Chiles' first throw as a Spartan was an interception which wasn't completely his fault as it bounced off the fingertips of Montorie Foster Jr. and into the arms of an FAU defender. Yet it seemed to affect his confidence as he finished just 10-for-24 with 114 yards and two picks.

The next week, he bounced back in a big way with 363 yards and three touchdowns but he still threw three picks. He did lead Michigan State to a huge 27-24 road win over Maryland.

In Week 3, he didn't need to do much against Prairie View A&M, completing 12-of-19 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown, finally throwing no interceptions.

Finally, it was the Boston College game that had some fans jumping off the Chiles bandwagon as he completed just 17-of-35 passes for 241 yards and three interceptions -- the final pick ended the game in the end zone in double coverage. However, I was willing to overlook this performance as he was down four receivers, including Jaron Glover and Nick Marsh, and he was forced to throw 35 times in a monsoon. It was a recipe for disaster and he still should have gotten the win.

Hearing all the criticism and heading into the toughest two-game stretch of the season before a bye, it felt like Chiles was either going to crumble or rise to the occasion.

He did the latter.

Having a really bad turnover problem already, Chiles protected the ball against a really tough Ohio State defense that ranked second in the country in total yards allowed per game. He finished a solid 13-for-19 with 167 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. While Michigan State lost, he made some incredible throws and put the Spartans in the position to score and keep the game close on numerous instances. The final should have been a lot closer to 31-20 or something similar to that, but turnovers by Jack Velling and on downs as well as a dropped pick made it look worse.

And then he went on the road and completed 10-of-17 passes for 154 yards with no interceptions. He did fumble the ball on the goal line which is unacceptable and could've changed the game, but he still made zero "interception-worthy" throws, according to Justin Thind.

It's clear that he's growing as a player and it's been evident over the past two games against two of the top three teams in the nation. He just completed 23-of-36 passes for 321 yards and a touchdown with one pick in the toughest two-game stretch of his career and it's not his fault that his team currently doesn't have a run game to take the pressure off his shoulders.

Chiles has grown up in a hurry before our eyes and that's an encouraging sight heading into a bye week and into the second half of the season.