WSU ready to face No. 21 Syracuse in the Holiday Bowl

“Carry him to the media!” Washington State offensive line coach Jared Kaster shouted as four underclassmen lifted senior left tackle Esa Pole off the field on Saturday following his final practice in Pullman.

Pole said the operation was Kaster’s idea.

“Coach Kaster said I’m the only senior on the O-line, and it’s my last time off the field,” Pole said. “He said he doesn’t want my foot touching any part of this field.”

After his news conference, Pole got right back on his four-teammate carriage and left Rogers Field as a Coug for one final time.

In the 26 days since their last game, over 30 players, including quarterback John Mateer entered the transfer portal, several assistant coaches took other jobs and Jake Dicket left Pullman for Wake Forest.

On Monday, the Cougs flew to San Diego and today, Pole and the 97 other Cougs who made the trip will play one more game.

WSU (8-4) faces No. 21 Syracuse (9-3) in the DirecTV Holiday Bowl at 5 p.m. today (FOX) at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.

A crossroads for the Cougs

The Cougar football team that runs into Snapdragon Stadium today will look dramatically different than the one that beat San Diego State in the same stadium in October and lost to lowly Wyoming 15-14 on Nov. 30 at Gesa Field.

More than 30 Cougs — including 14 starters — have entered the transfer portal, some walk-ons who knew that it was going to be increasingly difficult to secure a roster spot and some starters and frequent contributors who received significant name, image and likeness opportunities from bigger schools. Others, like defensive tackle David Gusta and wide receiver Josh Meredith, entered in the days after Dickert left.

WSU athletic director Anne McCoy named Pete Kaligis as the team’s acting head coach on Dec. 18, hours after Dickert left. Kaligis said he was honored to be trusted with the position and wanted to do the job to give the remaining WSU football players the bowl experience that they had earned.

“The 120 young men, 120 souls, poured into this program from January 6 all the way to where we’re at right now. And I know we’re not at 120 but the men that are here, they deserve the best, and they deserve someone to stand in the gap,” Kaligis said. “Stand in the gap, and let’s go finish this thing the right way, the way we know how to finish it.”

The Cougar football team went 8-4 in 2024, beating Texas Tech and Washington and playing a Mountain West Conference schedule which saw them complete three fourth-quarter comebacks and win, and then lose, plenty of close games.

Mateer, in his first year starting, put college football on notice with a nation-leading 44 total touchdowns and over 3,000 passing yards.

Notice the nation certainly did. Mateer is reportedly set to earn over $3 million to play quarterback for Oklahoma in its second year in the SEC.

The Cougar Collective, an association of WSU supporters, offered Mateer about $1 million worth of NIL deals to stay in Pullman, but the allure of the SEC was too grand.

Mateer isn’t the only Coug headed to Norman. He followed WSU’s former offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski to Oklahoma.

Last week Dickert left WSU for Wake Forest, a football program with a dreary history in the win-loss column, but ultimately more money and greater promised stability and internal support than WSU.

Running back Wayshawn Parker, who rushed for over 700 yards as a true freshman, followed running backs coach Mark Atuaia to Utah and on Thursday, linebacker Buddah Al-Uqdah, who led WSU in tackles with 76 in ‘24, transferred to Washington, the Cougars’ in-state rival.

Other Cougs have already decided where they will play next year while others are waiting to see who WSU will hire as its next coach.

The players voted to allow teammates who had entered the transfer portal to play in the Holiday Bowl. Kaligis declined to give an exact rundown of which portal players will play in the bowl game, but Meredith, who is from San Diego and cornerback Steve Hall, made the trip to San Diego.

Cornerback Jamorri Colson entered the portal but will return to WSU, according to On3sports. Colson snagged two interceptions during a WSU practice in San Diego this week, according to a video released by KREM2 News Spokane.

Zevi under center

With Mateer transferring to Oklahoma, backup QB Zevi Eckhaus will start the Holiday Bowl.

Eckhaus transferred to WSU this past winter after a standout career at Bryant of the Football Championship Subdivision.

In three years at Bryant, Eckhaus passed for over 8,400 yards and had 75 touchdowns to 25 interceptions.

He spent a minimal amount of time on the field for the Cougs, closing out WSU’s 70-30 win over FCS Portland State on Aug. 31.

The backup QB completed 6-of-7 passes for 61 yards and a touchdown in his lone WSU appearance.

Quarterback Jaxon Potter relived Mateer when WSU held a sizable lead over Hawaii on Oct. 19. Dickert decline to explain why the team chose to insert Potter into the game over Eckhaus but reiterated the fact that Eckhaus was still WSU’s No. 2 QB.

The impact and likely intention of the move was that it ensured that Eckhaus played in no more than four games and preserved his redshirt, allowing him to play another year of college football.

Eckhaus could return to WSU in 2025 and today he will have the chance to prove to the school why that might be a worthwhile investment.

The senior from Culver City, Calif., will have a nearly complete offense to operate. Right tackle Fa’alili Fa’amoe and Parker, WSU’s starting running back, are in the portal and have already transferred, but the remainder of starting offensive line and most of the wide receiver corps remain intact.

Christian Hilborn could start at right tackle after starting the first several games of the season at the position as Fa’amoe recovered from injury.

WSU’s leading receiver Kyle Williams will play his final game at Washington State with the chance to further cement himself in school record books.

Wide receiver Meredith, who entered the transfer portal after Dickert left, was spotted getting off the bus in San Diego.

Sophomore wide receiver Carlos Hernandez and senior tight end Cooper Mathers remain with the team as well.

Scouting the Orange

Syracuse began its season with a 38-22 win over MAC Champion Ohio on Aug. 31. The Orange opened Atlantic Coast Conference play with a 31-28 win over Georgia Tech the following week but lost on Sept. 20 to former Pac-12 school Stanford 26-24 on Sept. 20 at home.

The Orange rounded out its four-game opening season homestand with a 42-14 win over Holy Cross and a 44-41 overtime win over Mountain West runner-up UNLV on Oct. 4 in Las Vegas.

Syracuse suffered its second loss with a dismal 41-13 defeat at Pittsburgh on Oct. 24 and a third loss to Boston College on Nov. 9.

The Orange closed the year with three straight wins, including a 42-38 win over Miami and former WSU quarterback Cam Ward.

Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord led the nation in passing in 2024 with 4,326 yards, 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

McCord could surpass former Clemson QB Deshaun Watson’s ACC single-season record of 4,593, which he set in 15 games in 2016.

The Orange enter the game at nearly full strength with only about 10 players in the transfer portal.

The basics

What: DirecTV Holiday Bowl: WSU (8-4) vs. No. 21 Syracuse (9-3)

Where: Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, Calif.

When: 5 p.m. today

TV: FOX

Radio: Radio: KHTR-FM (104.3/103.9), KCLX-AM (1450)

Spread: Syracuse -17 (BETMGM)

*Editor's note: this story has been updated to reflect Syracuse's result versus UNLV

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.