Syracuse Orange Football: What to watch for against Washington State

The Syracuse Orange (9-3) complete Fran Bown’s first season tomorrow night when they take on the remnants of the Washington State Cougars (8-4) in the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl. It’s a primetime game with kickoff at 8:00 a.m. on FOX and here’s what we’re watching for:

Kevin: A look into the future

I think we’ll see the starting XI in this game, but I expect a lot of the younger Orange to get chances in this game. We know Oronde Gadsden is moving on, so we’ll see Jamie Tremble on some routes. Will we see what Jakhari Williams looks like throwing some passes and some extra runs for Jaden Hart? In defence, we should see Ibn McDaniels playing some corners in this game and with there being a fairly quiet period, many of the replacements for 2025 could come from the current squad.

Dom: One last hurrah

Considering how well this year ended up going and what the 2025 schedule looks like, getting ten wins will feel great now and in the future of the Fran Brown era. I expect this game to include this year’s successes: gold with Kyle McCord, a final look at this year’s elite passing attack, and a defense that will hopefully force a turnover or two, peppered with some insight into who can fill all these successes shoes that depart.

Christian: History students

I will freely admit that I am not particularly impressed with Washington State’s record on paper considering the opponents they have defeated this season. And while the majority of Cougars players who are in the transfer portal play this game, not having John Mateer really hurts Washington State. So all signs point to a comfortable win for Syracuse. However, we’ve said this before about a number of games this year for Syracuse, and they weren’t nearly as easy as they should have been. Think back to the Ohio, Holy Cross and UConn games. Did Syracuse learn from its mistakes in these games? The main thing for me is to start quickly and not take my foot off the accelerator in the second quarter. Orange fans are expecting the program’s younger talent to step into this game. In order for this to be successful, the starters must be history students. In order for this to happen, they have to end the game early and decisively.

Carson: More West Coast football

It’s almost a stroke of luck that Syracuse is allowed to play football on the West Coast again. Before the Stanford game earlier this year, Fran Brown spoke about playing conference games in California: “It gives you a chance to recruit some guys and they can be confident that they have the opportunity to go home. “Twice a year.” Brown’s connections to the Tri-State area and Pennsylvania (actually the greater Philadelphia area) have helped him recruit athletes from the Northeast. But if he can extend his influence west, with a DirecTV Holiday Bowl win over Washington State, Brown can continue his work on building a serious football program at Syracuse.

Max: Defense wins Championships Bowl games

Despite all the uncertainty surrounding the Washington State program, Vegas still expects the Cougars to score over 20 points. It would be great to see the future of the Orange defense in an underwhelming fourth quarter, but I’m watching how the starting defenders react to whatever WSU throws out there. Every game this season has had its fair share of tense moments (minus Pitt), so we’ll see how Elijah Robinson’s veterans respond after nearly a month off national television.

Mike: Fight to the end

2024 has been a season full of incredible individual performances and this is the last chance to improve on them. Jackson Meeks is within striking distance of a 1K receiving season (91 yards); LeQuint Allen is also within range (99 yards) of that mark on the ground. McCord, Gadsden, Diggs and everyone else entering the draft knows their stock can be helped by one last strong performance. So don’t expect them to take even a severely weakened opponent lightly. Fran’s boys have played a full 60 minutes all season and I see no reason why they won’t do it again.

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What will you pay attention to?