WSU’s bowl game is set.
The Washington State Cougars have been invited to the 2024 Holiday Bowl and will face off with the Syracuse Orange on December 27th.
The game will be played at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California, on December 27th at 5 p.m. PST. This is WSU’s second trip to Snapdragon Stadium, having played the San Diego State Aztecs there earlier this season.
It’s not the bowl game WSU was anticipating a month ago when they sat at 8-1, but they will still get rewarded for an 8-4 season with the second best bowl available outside of the College Football Playoff.
The Cougars will take on the ACC’s second best team to not make the CFP, Syracuse, who finished the season 9-3 after upsetting the Miami Hurricanes in the final game of the regular season.
WSU and Syracuse finished their seasons on two totally different notes. While WSU’s high hopes came spiraling down over the final three weeks, the Orange finished with three straight wins over Cal, UCONN and Miami to get to 9-3. Their three losses on the season came to Stanford, Pitt and Boston College. The Orange also pulled off two overtime wins against UNLV and Virginia Tech.
The Orange will likely open a small favorite over WSU, but that can change drastically over the coming weeks with the transfer portal effecting both rosters. As of right now, the Orange only have two players in the portal, LBs Anwar Sparrow and Kadin Bailey. Sparrow played in all 12 games, recording nine tackles while Bailey was sidelined for the 2024 season with an injury.
If both teams remain mostly in-tact, we should be in for a fun, pretty even, matchup featuring two high-powered offenses. Led by former Ohio State QB Kyle McCord, the Orange finished 32nd in the nation in points per game with 31.7. The Cougars sit 11 spots ahead with 33.7.