[3] The 45th annual Holiday Bowl game featured the Syracuse Orange from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Washington State Cougars from the Pac-12 Conference.
The game began at approximately 5:00 p.m. PST and aired on Fox.
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.
[5] 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 played to a 9–3 record (5–3 in the ACC) during the regular season, tied for fourth place in their conference and ranked 21st in the final College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings.