Jacob Thorpe: WSU has been down this Holiday road before – only this time, the Cougs can play spoiler

SAN DIEGO – The year was 2016 and Washington State was in town for a Holiday Bowl game that was expected to be a snooze. One team was a double-digit underdog, playing without a handful of key players. For much of the run-up to the game there was uncertainty if there would even be enough players to make it happen.

Sound familiar?

That team was Minnesota, a 10-point underdog to the Cougars after 10 players were suspended by the university amid a sexual assault investigation. The rest of the team threatened to boycott the bowl game in retaliation. Despite the turmoil, the Tracy Claeys-led Golden Gophers upset the Cougars in San Diego.

Now WSU is the team nobody expects to win. That means the team can play with nothing to lose. Key players like quarterback John Mateer are off to new schools through the transfer portal. Head coach Jake Dickert accepted the same position at Wake Forest.

Nobody knows what to make of the Cougars, including Syracuse head coach Fran Brown. At the pregame news conference held Thursday, Brown named linebacker Taariq Al-Uqdah as one of the Cougars who had impressed him most on film when scouting his opponent.

The problem? Al-Uqdah announced just an hour later his transfer to cross-state rival Washington.

So, maybe the Cougars can surprise some people. Syracuse enters the game as a 17-point favorite, but has its own issues to deal with . Bowl games are tricky, and the burden of expectations falls squarely on the Orange.

Bowl games without a national championship at stake have always been exhibitions, to some degree. Curiosities. A reward for a successful season and a chance to see your team go up against an unusual opponent from a different conference.

That’s even more the case now, when the games will feature so many players getting their first chance at playing time as the regular starters sit out. Maybe the games will be more epic, more memorable. Surely there will be more breakout games as young players see the field. Bowl games are more forward-looking now.

“This is the start of our 2025 season,” Brown said.

If the transfer portal is going to continue to plague the sport like it has the past few seasons, then the rosters you see in bowl games could be seen as the team in its most pure form. The one game each year highlighting players you can expect to watch for a few years. The players who you can watch grow. You won’t see as many future NFL stars. You will see more guys who are paid less, and who plan to graduate.

In this case, as Cougars.

“I think you’re going to see a team that’s going to be playing with a lot of energy, a lot of excitement, and playing with a lot of love together as one,” interim WSU coach Pete Kaligis said. “That’s what I believe you’re going to see.”

With all the chaos surrounding the WSU program, there is certainly a chance that this will be a forgettable game. But if these players can surprise everyone and cap this chaotic season with a win, then this bowl game should be one of WSU’s most memorable.