Huard: 3 positives about bowl matchups for Huskies, Cougars
Dec 9, 2024, 5:31 PM | Updated: 7:20 pm
WSU Cougars Kris Hutson runs with the ball with UW Huskies cornerback Ephesians Prysock in pursuit during the 2024 Apple Cup. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
(Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
The UW Huskies and WSU Cougars found out their bowl destinations and matchups on Sunday.
UW Huskies, WSU Cougars bowl games set — details here
The Huskies (6-6, 4-5 Big Ten) are headed to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, where they will face Louisville (8-4, 5-3 ACC) on New Year’s Eve in college football’s second-oldest bowl game.
The Cougars (8-4) are headed to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, where they will meet No. 21 Syracuse (9-3, 5-3 ACC) in primetime on Dec. 27.
During Monday’s Blue 88 segment on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, FOX college football analyst and former UW quarterback Brock Huard identified three positives about the Huskies’ and Cougars’ bowl draws.
Quality competition
Syracuse and Louisville both had respectable seasons in the ACC, finishing tied for fourth place in the 17-team conference.
Syracuse earned two wins over teams that finished in the top 25 of the final College Football Playoff rankings – No. 13 Miami and No. 24 UNLV. The Orange outlasted UNLV for a 44-41 overtime win in early October and pulled one of the upsets of the year in their regular-season finale, stunning then-No. 6 Miami 42-38 to spoil the Hurricanes’ CFP dreams.
Louisville handed eventual ACC champion Clemson its only conference loss, beating the No. 16-ranked and CFP-bound Tigers 33-21 in early November. Louisville also was competitive with three other CFP top-25 teams, losing by seven points apiece to No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 10 SMU and No. 13 Miami.
With both programs on the rise under relatively new coaches – Syracuse under first-year head coach Fran Brown and Louisville under second-year head coach Jeff Brohm – Huard believes neither team will have many players opting out of their bowl game. Bowl-game opt-outs have become a trend in recent years, due in part to the transfer portal and the desire among NFL Draft hopefuls to avoid potential injury.
“You get quality opponents,” Huard said. “(They have) young coaches. Brohm is in Year 2 building Louisville. Syracuse with Fran is in Year 1 and had a great year. … A lot of these bowl games have depleted rosters. A lot of bowl games have coaches that have left. Not for these teams. These will be real, legitimate (matchups).”
Top-crew TV broadcasts
Most bowl games are broadcast by ESPN, but the Huskies and Cougars managed to draw the lone bowl game for two other major networks. The Sun Bowl is the lone bowl game for CBS, while the Holiday Bowl is the lone bowl game for FOX. That means that each network’s top crew will be on hand for UW and WSU.
“Both of them are pretty legitimate games,” Huard said. “For the Sun Bowl, so you get Gary Danielson and (Brad Nessler) – their top crew, their top people. It’s a great production. For the Holiday Bowl, you get Gus (Johnson) and Joel (Klatt) down there in Southern California (with) all the resources.”
Valuable practice time
One of the biggest benefits of bowl games is the opportunity for teams to use the extra practices to get a head start on preparing for the next season. And with both the Sun Bowl and Holiday Bowl taking place after Christmas, the Huskies and Cougars will get to maximize that extra practice time.
“What’s good for both of them – and certainly for the Huskies, maybe even more than the Cougs – is they get a bunch of practice,” Huard said. “These are not played on the 14th or the 16th or 18th of December. These are played at the end of December.”
Listen to the full Blue 88 segment at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
