Holiday Bowl Champs! Highlights & recap of Syracuse football's win over Washington State

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA -- Kyle McCord and Fran Brown made history while hopes of being able to do it again next year cling in the balance. McCord broke another record while Brown racked up his tenth win of the season, tying the record for most wins by a rookie head coach in Orange history. The Orange won the DirecTV Holiday Bowl 52-35.  

Kyle McCord came into the day 267 yards shy of the ACC single-season passing yards record. After a great showing in the first half. Early in the second Kyle McCord was sitting at 218 yards. That's when he connected with Darrell Gill Jr. for 50-yards which would officially give him the record, previously held by Deshaun Watson.

'He's not selfish at all. He cares about everyone else. He's very, very competitive. You see it from the first day he came in," said Brown.

McCord ended the game with 453 yards and five touchdowns.

Fran Brown becomes only the second rookie head coach in Orange history to have 10 wins in their first season. Far from where Brown wants to be but nonetheless a good start.

"I think the 10 wins show that we are becoming a successful program and we have to continue to work. That was just a standard that was set, and we want to go above and beyond," Brown said after the game.

It was not a pretty start for an Orange team who is no stranger to slow starts after bye weeks. Receiving the ball first it looked as if Jeff Nixon was going to open up the playbook for some fun. The first two plays saw a lot of pre snap motion and a 17-yard end-around from Trebor Pena.

The drive would stall after Pena's run when McCord made a few bad throws.

Washington State would come out swinging putting together a strong first drive capped off by quarterback Zevi Eckhaus scoring from 4 yards out.

Syracuse without cornerbacks Jayden Bellamy and Jaeden Gould, and safeties Devin Grant and Berry Buxton III were playing with a bit of a makeshift defense compared to the one that had already struggled during the season.

The defense was also missing Fadill Diggs, who was unavailable for the game.

The Orange would feel the effect of some of the losses on defense early.

Nonetheless the Orange offense had a response. As has been the case all season, when the Orange are in a tight spot, they give the ball to Lequint Allen and everything else falls in line.

The first three plays of the drive were back to the basics, handing the ball to Lequint Allen. Then came a few passes from Kyle McCord capped off by a 19-yard pass to Trebor Pena for a touchdown in the front corner of the endzone.

The Orange would go for two but fail the conversion.

Forcing a WSU punt, the next drive started with great field position. Two straight back shoulder fades to Jackson Meeks set up the Orange in the red zone, otherwise known as Lequint Allen Territory. Allen would score on a rush from 12-yards out.

Allen has the option to come back next season, for his senior year. But with the Kyle McCord decision looming there has not been much talk about whether or not he will return. Going into halftime of the Bowl game Allen was about 600 yards from cracking the top-5 all-time in Syracuse rushing yards.

Allen ended the game with 120 yards and two touchdowns. Allen also finished the season second in single season touchdowns with 20, only behind Walter Reyes' 21.

WSU would come back the next drive with one that would absolutely torch the Orange defense. Zevi Eckhaus and Kyle Williams connected on a five-yard slant route that would go for a 66 yard touchdown.

The Orange would have even worse luck on their next drive having to settle for a punt after a four and out. Jack Stonehouse's punt would then be blocked leading to a WSU scoop and score.

But the Orange would get the ball back and again march down the field. McCord found Senior Oronde Gadsden II for the first of their two scoring connections on the day.

There was a general consensus that Gadsden would opt out of the Bowl game altogether, with NFL draft potential. But his play in the game is a testament to the shift in mindset that Fran Brown has placed on this team.

Just before the end of the first half, with 35 seconds left McCord and Gadsden would connect again in the corner of the endzone for their second score of the night.

In the second half the route would continue and the Orange would continue to stack the record books. Jackson Meeks would catch a 40-yard pass that put him over 1,000 yards on the season. The defense came up big forcing two turnovers, and only allowing seven points after the first quarter until a garbage time touchdown by WSU with under a minute to play.

Jalil Martin and Alijah Clark would both have interceptions on the night.

McCord said in post game press that he hasn't thought much about the decision that looms surrounding his return to Syracuse but that the decision would be tough if he were granted the option.

Fran Brown would surely love to have McCord back so that the team could pick up where it left off. Having McCord back would surely have this team ranked to start the season.

The Orange open the 2025 season at Mercedes Benz-Stadium in Atlanta, Ga; against Tennessee who's season ended a week ago in a loss to Ohio State in the CFP.