Cougar Football Postgame Notes - Holiday Bowl vs. Syracuse - Washington State University Athletics

Cougar Football Postgame Notes - Holiday Bowl vs. Syracuse

December 28, 2024 | Football

By: Washington State Athletic Communications

SAN DIEGO (December 28, 2024) - Check out the postgame notes from the Holiday Bowl against No. 21 Syracuse.

TEAM NOTES
•      WSU finished the regular season with an 8-5 record, the most wins since 2018 (11-2)
•      WSU played in their eighth bowl game in the last nine seasons
•      WSU blocked their first punt since 2021 (Arizona) and returned a blocked punt for a touchdown for first time since 2018 (at Oregon State)

PLAYER NOTES
•      Two players made their first career starts; Bryson Lamb (DT), Leo Pulalasi (RB)
•      Zevi Eckhaus made his first career FBS start, went 31-for-43 for 363 yards and three touchdowns, also rushed for a touchdown
•      Josh Joyner (RB) made his collegiate debut, had two carries for 10 yards
•      Kyle Williams recorded his 50th consecutive game with a catch, had a catch in all 50 career games played (1st 25 at UNLV (2020-22)
•      Williams had 10 catches for a Holiday Bowl-record 172 yards (168, Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State, 2008), second-most catches and receiving yards in WSU Bowl Game history
•      Williams caught his 14th TD pass of the season, second-most in WSU single-season history
•      Williams caught 20 career TD passes at WSU, tied for sixth-most in WSU history
•      Williams pushed his season receiving yards to 1,186, the 4th-most receiving yards in WSU single-season history
•      Williams recorded his fifth 100-yard game of the season and seventh of his WSU career, tied for 10^th-most in WSU history
•      Trey Leckner made his second start of the season, caught season-high two passes, entered game with three catches
•      Carlos Hernandez set career-highs of eight catches and 80 receiving yards, caught fifth touchdown in eighth game played
•      Branden Ganashamoorthy caught his first career touchdown
•      Tyson Durant matched a career-high with eight tackles
•      Kyle Thornton appeared in his 53^rd career game, tied for 5^th-most in WSU history, made four tackles
•      Syrus Webster recorded his first career sack as a Coug
•      Nusi Malani recorded his second sack of the season
•      Quinn Roff recorded his 3.5 sack of the season and 12.5 of his career
•      Raam Stevenson made his second career start, both this season
•      Leyton Smithson had a season-long 46-yard kickoff return, the second-longest kickoff return in WSU Bowl Game history
•      Dean Janikowski made five PAT to push his school-record PAT total to 182
•      Janikowski tallied five points to push his career point total to 311, fourth-most in WSU history