Washington State is traveling down to San Diego to face an ACC opponent, No. 21 Syracuse, in the DirecTV Holiday Bowl on Friday night to wrap up the 2024 season.

The main storyline for the Cougars (8-4) is all the absences they will have as the portal and the offseason has laid waste in Pullman with WSU losing its head coach, both coordinators and the running backs and quarterbacks coaches along with 32 players in the portal.

It is becoming more of a question of which members will be available for the bowl game and who won’t with all the news coming through the program as of late.

On the other side, the Orange (9-3) come into the matchup on a hot streak after winning their last three games to enter the College Football Playoff rankings before bowl season and even spoiling Miami’s season, which had hopes of a college football playoff appearance.

For the Orange, it’s all offense and it all begins with senior quarterback Kyle McCord, who leads the nation in passing yards per game and is in the top five in total offense in the country.

In terms of any potential opt-outs for the Orange, head coach Fran Brown reassured the media that he expects everyone to play for Syracuse on Friday night.

“We don’t opt out around here,” Brown stated to the Syracuse media during bowl practices.

Syracuse only has four players in the portal, one of them being starting cornerback Jayden Bellamy.

WSU currently has 32 players in the portal, with a majority of them being starters or key rotational players. However, WSU AD Anne McCoy said in a press conference players who are actively in the portal can still play in the bowl game.

Reporters did not get an update on who specifically has decided to play and who has decided to opt out, but WSU interim head coach Pete Kaligis said he has 98 scholarship players ready to go in Friday night’s game.

Kaligis urged in a press conference Thursday for anyone in the portal to come play for the Cougars in the bowl game.

Kaligis said his main focus is with his team, preparing it for the bowl game at hand and overcoming this adversity.

“I know who we are, we’re going to play this game, and I’m going to give you everything I have in the next nine days,” Kaligis said to his team during the team meeting following Jake Dickert’s departure to Winston-Salem.

Despite all the offseason noise in Pullman, senior defensive back Tyson Durant said during bowl practices that the team is focusing on its final game of the season while shutting out the noise.

“We’re just putting our heads down and going to work,” Durant said. “It’s not really much we can do about that.”

Durant said he’s just soaking in the moment with this being his first ever bowl game appearance in college football.

“This is big for me… I’ve never been to a bowl game,” Durant said. “When everyone else is at home, we’re out here practicing. … We’re trying to make it last for the seniors.”

For the Cougars who are playing in their final game of the season on Friday, it’s just about getting one more win for the locker room after all the noise throughout the past couple of weeks.

Outside of the portal questions, the only real injury question mark is redshirt junior OL Devin Kylany who went down with an injury near the end of the regular season. There is no word on his bowl game status.

Kaligis said after practice Saturday that about ‘a dozen’ players caught some kind of illness, but there was no word on who or what positions were affected.

During holiday bowl media coverage, Kaligis said redshirt junior DT David Gusta, who is in the portal, will not be playing in the bowl game while nursing an ankle injury.

The defense for the Orange is where they have struggled to be consistent this season, ranking almost outside the top 100 in points allowed per game (28.8) and allowing their fair share of yards — averaging 369.7 yards allowed to opposing offenses.

Redshirt junior wide receiver Josh Meredith feels the matchup against the Orange’s secondary and defense as a whole could favor the Cougars.

“We like the matchup. … I think our offense has the ability to showcase what we could do,” Meredith said.

Kaligis announced that senior quarterback Zevi Eckhaus will be starting for the Cougars in the bowl game. The senior from California lost the starting quarterback battle before the beginning of the season to sophomore quarterback John Mateer, who has since transferred to Oklahoma.

Redshirt sophomore running back Djouvensky Schlenbaker said he’s excited to be in the backfield with Eckhaus and get some more carries after backing up freshman running back Wayshawn Parker all season.

“There’s a lot of positives with [Eckhaus], he’s very confident and we got trust in him,” Schlenbaker said.

Schlenbaker noted how aggressive the Orange like to play defensively, and how the Cougars will have to combat that at the line of scrimmage.

“They’re one of the most aggressive teams, I think their backers are really good, their D-linemen are very good,” Schlenbaker said.

Syracuse comes in with the best passing attack in the nation, with McCord steering the ship for the Orange. He is not alone in his production, however.

Out of the backfield, junior running back LeQuint Allen makes this offense even more versatile with how explosive he is as a pass-catching back, and he can shred opposing defenses on the ground.

Durant is excited to face the best passing offense in the country and see what the Orange bring to the table in Friday’s matchup.

“Great opponent,” Durant said. “... The number one quarterback in the nation, I’m just excited to go out there and ball.”

Senior linebacker Kyle Thornton feels McCord is going to be a huge test for the WSU defense, especially against a good pocket-passer that can pass at a high level.

“[McCord] slings the ball over the yard, he’s a really good quarterback,” Thornton said. “[Gadsden II] is a pretty good receiving threat as well, they deserve to be where they are.”

With all the explosive playmakers for the Syracuse offense, the defense for the Cougars, which has struggled against explosive playmakers in previous games, will have all it can ask for against the best passing offense in college football.

Originally, Syracuse opened as a slight 4.5-point favorite at the neutral site in San Diego, but the spread has now grown to 18.5-points in favor of the Orange after the departure news for WSU, with a total set at 59.5 points (All odds according to BetMGM).

Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. PST from Snapdragon Stadium on Friday night and will be broadcast on FOX.