The 2024 Holiday Bowl features the 9-3 Syracuse Orange against the 8-4 Washington State Cougars. Here is the 2024 Holiday Bowl Preview.
Syracuse won nine games, including four of their last five, to make a bowl game. They defeated seven bowl-eligible teams this season: Ohio, Georgia Tech, UNLV, NC State, Virginia Tech, California and Miami. One of their three losses, to Stanford, came to a team who didn’t qualify for a bowl game.
The Orange score 32.6 points per game, ranking 33rd in the country. They pass for 363.1 yards (ranked first) and rush for 93 yards (ranked 127th).
Ohio State transfer Kyle McCord has been a star for the Orange this season at quarterback. He has passed for 4,326 yards, 29 touchdown and 12 interceptions on 65.8 percent completion. Seven players have at least 200 receiving yards this season for Syracuse. Jackson Meeks, Trebor Pena and Oronde Gadsden II each have over 800 yards.
Most of the rushing yards have been compiled by LeQuint Allen, who has 901 and 14 touchdowns to go with it. Yasin Wells is the next leading rusher with 127 yards.
Defensively, the Orange allow 28.7 points per game, ranking 94th. They concede 216 passing yards and 153.7 rushing yards per game. Justin Barron leads the team in tackles from his position in the secondary with 81. Fadil Diggs paces the team with 7.5 sacks. Clarence Lewis has made plays on the ball with 11 passes defended and one interception.
Washington State won eight games this season to qualify for a bowl game, but lost their last three games. Four of their wins were over bowl-eligible teams: Texas Tech, Washington, San Jose State and Fresno State. Three of their losses came to teams who didn’t qualify for a bowl game: New Mexico, Oregon State and Wyoming.
The Cougars score 36.8 points per game, ranking 15th in the FBS. They pass for 268.8 yards (ranked 24th) and rush for 171.6 yards per game (ranked 54th).
Starting quarterback John Mateer is in the transfer portal. Zevi Eckhaus is expected to start. He passed for 61 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions on 85.7 percent completion this season. Four receivers have at least 300 yards on the season. Kyle Williams is the standout here with 60 catches for 1,026 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Mateer being in the transfer portal also hurts the rushing attack, as he was the team’s top rusher. Their second-leading rusher, Wayshawn Parker is also in the transfer portal. Leo Pulalasi will have to play a much larger role after rushing for 241 yards this season.
On defense, the Cougars allow 28.1 points per game, ranking 90th in the country. They give up 255.3 passing yards and 173.7 rushing yards per game. Taariq Al-Uqdah has the team-high with 76 tackles, but he is in the transfer portal. The team’s leading sacker is Ansel Din-Mbhu with six, but he is also in the transfer portal. Starting corners Ethan O’Connor and Stephen Hall are in the transfer portal as well, leaving Washington State short-staffed.
With so many players leaving the transfer portal and head coach Jake Dickert leaving, the Cougars have little chance in this one. McCord would be able to light up the scoreboard and give Syracuse a big victory.
Syracuse Orange 42 Washington State Cougars 21
Make sure to check out our college football page for more content like 2024 Holiday Bowl Preview!
You can like The Game Haus on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from great TGH writers!
One big problem the Cougs have is that their equipment manager went into the transfer portal with the majority of the team and took all their footballs with him. Another problem is that Coach Dickert absconded with the playbook so the team will need to make up their plays in the huddle. According to one remaining player runners will be decided by whoever loses a quick game of rock-paper-scissors. One good sign is that the defensive line is working well together and will use the Red Rover Defensive Scheme which involves all the interior linemen holding hands and chanting together “Red Rover, Red Rover send your weakest runner on over.”
