Michigan State barely escaped its college football season-opener with a win over Florida Atlantic. Sports bettors are absolutely furious with sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles after his gambling advice was misunderstood.
It creates an interesting conversation about the role of betting in “amateur” sports.
Chiles, a former four-star recruit, transferred from Oregon State during the offseason after head coach Jonathan Smith left Corvallis for the same job in East Lansing. He was supposed to bring a spark to an offense that was largely stagnant in recent years. That was not the case during Week 1.
The Spartans finished with less than 120 yards passing and only 16 points. They won by six. Chiles went 10-of-24 for 114 yards with two interceptions. He also had six rush attempts for 28 yards.
Sportsbooks set the Over/Under at 44.5 points for Friday’s game. A combined total of 26 points fell short of that number by a pretty comfortable margin.
A lot of people who bet — and lost — the ‘Over’ did so because of Chiles.
He spoke to the media last week and offered some advice. The 18-year-old encouraged college football fans to bet a specific way. His quote was presented on social media without proper context.
Aidan Chiles was not talking about the point total for his first game as the starting quarterback of Michigan State. Anybody who took the ‘Over’ because of that 18-second clip did not look into what he was actually saying, which is partially on the reporter who posted it and partially on the athlete himself.
Chiles was just showing confidence in his team’s ability to win. He used betting as a means of doing so and it was a bar.
The problem is that bettors thought he was discussing the Spartans’ ability to score points, when he was discussing their expected win total of six to imply that they will win no less than seven games. Take the ‘Over’ on the regular season win total— NOT the point total for Week 1. Awkward!
The Michigan State communications team definitely talked to Chiles about his comments after they blew up online. He won’t make that mistake again. Athletes should not be offering any betting advice… even though it is a billion dollar industry with a direct impact on college football and college sports as a whole.
Is that fair? No. Is it easier to avoid confusion by staying silent on the topic? Yes.