2024 Holiday Bowl
The 2024 Holiday Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 27, 2024, at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California. The 45th annual Holiday Bowl game featured the Syracuse Orange from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Washington State Cougars from the Pac-12 Conference. The game began at approximately 5:00 p.m. PST and aired on Fox. It was one of the 2024–25 bowl games concluding the 2024 FBS football season. This was the first edition of the bowl contested at Snapdragon Stadium. Sponsored by multichannel video programming distributor DirecTV, the game was officially known as the DirecTV Holiday Bowl.
Teams
The bowl featured the Syracuse Orange of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Washington State Cougars of the Pac-12 Conference. This was the second meeting between these teams; the first came in 1979, when the Orange defeated the Cougars, 52–25.
Washington State Cougars
Washington State recorded a 8–4 record during the regular season, finishing second of the two teams that competed in the conference during 2024. The Cougars had an 8–1 record at one point and were briefly ranked 18th in the nation, before losing their final three regular-season games. The Cougars were led by interim head coach Pete Kaligis, who took over in mid-December when Jake Dickert departed for another coaching role. This was Washington State's fifth Holiday Bowl; the Cougars were 1–3 in their four previous appearances, winning in 2003 and losing in 1981, 2016, and 2017.
Syracuse Orange
Syracuse played to a 9–3 record during the regular season, tied for fourth place in their conference and ranked 21st in the final College Football Playoff rankings. The Orange ended their regular season with three consecutive wins. This was Syracuse's first appearance in the Holiday Bowl.