3 takeaways from Syracuse’s explosive Holiday Bowl win over Washington State

Syracuse and Washington State entered Friday’s Holiday Bowl in different trajectories. However, both sides came to play and delivered some fireworks all night long.

The Orange showed up looking to put a bow on Fran Brown’s first season leading the program. Already with 9 wins and one of the best seasons in recent program history, Syracuse wanted to send things out the right way heading into 2025.

Meanwhile, Wazzu entered the game still wrestling with the news of Jake Dickert’s departure to Wake Forest. Just over a week before the bowl game, Dickert was gone to take the job with the Demon Deacons after an 8-4 season for the Cougars.

To their credit, Washington State never quit in the bowl game, but the firepower of Syracuse was too much. The Orange scored 35 first-half points and rolled to a 52-35 victory to end the 2024 season.

Here are the key takeaways from that game:

Historic outing for Kyle McCord

Kyle McCord has been re-writing Syracuse’s record books all season long. On Friday night, he punctuated his campaign with one record within the ACC.

McCord entered the game trailing Deshaun Watson’s 2016 total of 4,593 yards for the single-season passing record in the ACC. In the second half of action, McCord toppled that mark in an otherworldly performance.

When it was all said and done, McCord ended the Holiday Bowl win with 453 passing yards and 5 touchdowns on 24-of-34 passing. Those numbers are bowl-game records for Syracuse.

McCord’s 453 passing yards are also the 3rd-most in a single game in Orange history while his 5 touchdowns tie the single-game record held by 3 other players. The most recent Syracuse player to throw for 5 touchdowns was Eric Dungey in 2018.

McCord entered the game already holding Syracuse’s single-season passing mark, and he’ll end the year at 4,779 yards for the ACC and Syracuse records.

Syracuse nets 10th win of the season

Syracuse has not been a traditional football powerhouse for the modern generation, and hitting 10 wins is a particularly remarkable plateau. It is the first 10-win season for the program since 2018 and the 7th overall season with 10+ wins in program history.

However, this season is particularly noteworthy as the first season with Fran Brown leading the way. This was Brown’s first season as the head coach of the Orange, and it was his first season as a head coach at any level.

After learning under Matt Rhule, Greg Schiano and Kirby Smart, Brown took over for a program that had eclipsed 6 wins just once from 2019-23. Now, he opens his career with 10 wins and has clearly elevated the potential for the program within the new ACC.

Darrell Gill Jr. flexes big-play potential

McCord engineered the massive offensive night with his arm, and he completed passes to 7 different players in the win. However, it was Darrell Gill Jr. with the big plays that really stood out.

Gill delivered a team-high 145 yards on just 4 catches in the win, averaging 36.3 yards per catch. Remarkably, Gill was able to put up those kinds of numbers without finding the end zone.

While he came close, Gill did not reach his career-high that he recently set with 185 yards in a game against UConn. But it goes down as 2 of his last 3 games of the season north of 100 receiving yards in a breakout sophomore campaign for the receiver.

We’ll see what the future holds, but he was a big-play threat all season long at 15.7 yards per catch and is a player to watch as we enter 2025.

Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.