Four Reasons to Watch the Holiday Bowl

What else are you going to do?

We are just six days away from WSU’s Holiday Bowl matchup with Syracuse, and I can’t find a whole lotta hype. That’s obvious, given the week WSU just had. It lost its star quarterback in John Mateer (who’s headed to Oklahoma, which is no surprise). It then awoke on Wednesday to learn that Jake Dickert would soon be on a private jet across the country to take the Wake Forest job.

And the transfer portal is still snatching Cougs left and right.

So, you’re forgiven if you’re not exactly losing sleep over excitement about the Holiday Bowl. Plus, bowl season ain’t what it used to be.

Yours truly was disappointed in Mateer leaving, though not surprised in the least. I wasn’t upset at all when Dickert ditched, as I think WSU could do a heck of a lot better than Jake Dickert at head coach. And the transfer portal exodus is to be expected and accepted.

What I was bummed about was WSU Athletic Director Anne McCoy having to publicly say WSU would not be skipping its bowl game like it was Marshall or something. Doing so would be a loser move. Just because there’s no hype around the game like the good old days doesn’t mean the Holiday Bowl is meaningless.

On that note, here are some reasons to sit down on Dec. 27 at 5 p.m. to take in WSU’s latest postseason invitational:

Next Man Up

It’s not like this is the first time WSU has been the victim of bowl game opt-outs. The 2021 Sun Bowl wasn’t exactly a who’s who of WSU starters, and while it wasn’t pretty, we got to see some young players step in for better or worse. We’ll have the same chance next Friday and if Jaxon Potter gets some snaps behind center, we could get a glimpse of what’s to come next season.

This is one reason why I try and make it to the last scrimmage of preseason camp each summer. I have a weird obsession with watching players before they’re starters to get some sense of what they might become. It’s weird, but the Holiday Bowl is kind of like that. I’ll take it.

Playcalling Bingo

Nobody knows who’s going to call the plays on offense. Ben Arbuckle, the normal playcaller, is off to Norman, Oklahoma. So, too, is quarterbacks coach and backup playcaller John Kuceyeski. Running backs coach Mark Atuaia is also moving on. The acting head coach is defensive tackles coach Pete Kaligis. The only coaches left on offense are Nick Edwards (wide receivers) Nick Whitworth (tight ends) and Jared Kaster (offensive line), and it looks like Edwards will be the one calling plays. I say they solicit input from the fanbase, seeing as we know everything about football already.

Plus, bowl games not in the College Football Playoff are for creativity and trying new things like this:

I say get creative, let loose and have fun. Don’t go into this game with high expectations, other than to see how much school yard football we can put on the field. Sometimes weird things happen.

Exposure

Maybe I’m naive (I am), but going to San Diego is a great opportunity to expose WSU to the large recruiting base down there. WSU does recruit California, despite what Dickert has to say about it. I know it’s easy to think the world is crashing down on WSU and nobody will want to play there, but there are still scholarship limits (for now). There are still high school football players who want to play college football at an FBS school, and WSU can’t let them slip away. I haven’t been a teenage in quite some time, but I suspect recruits will prefer the school that plays in bowl games over the loser school that skips them.

The Seniors

How’d you like to tell your seniors that their college football careers will end abruptly because you have a loser mentality and want to skip the bowl game entirely? Kyle Thornton made his feelings clear:

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The Holiday Bowl may not be pretty. Or it may be glorious. It might get weird, and it might be fun. What else are you going to do on Dec. 27? Hang out with your relatives?!?!?!

Go Cougs.