SAN DIEGO — Through one half, Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord and the Orange offense had the Holiday Bowl record books on notice Friday night.

While the most prominent records proved to be safe, the Washington State defense was anything but against the nation’s leading passer.

McCord threw for 453 yards and five touchdowns to lead No. 22- ranked Syracuse to a 52-35 win over Washington State in the 45th annual Holiday Bowl in front of 23,920 fans at Snapdragon Stadium.

The Orange (10-3) won its first-ever appearance in the contest behind 606 yards of total offense. The output was 91 yards shy of the Holiday Bowl single-team record of 698 yards set by Oklahoma State in 1988.

Syracuse has won five of its last seven bowl games and improved to 17-11-1 overall.

McCord completed 24 of 34 passes without an interception and threw a pair of touchdowns to both wide receiver Trebor Pena and tight end Oronde Gadsen and his last to running back LeQuint Allen Jr.

Pena had five catches for 70 yards and Gadsen made four catches for 74 yards. Allen ran for 120 yards and added a pair of touchdowns on 17 carries.

Washington State (8-5), in the program’s fifth appearance in the contest, was blanked in a pivotal second quarter and never recovered en route to its fourth consecutive loss to close the season.

Cougars quarterback Zevi Eckhaus finished 31-of-43 passing for 363 yards with three touchdowns to two interceptions.

Orange defensive backs Jalil Martin and Alijah Clark were credited with the interceptions.

Here are three takeaways from the Orange’s win:

Leading 42-28 entering the fourth quarter, McCord continued his aerial onslaught with a 49-yard completion to receiver Darrell Gill Jr. to help set up kicker Jackson Kennedy’s 30-yard field goal with 9:19 left.

Gill finished with a team-high 145 yards receiving on four catches.

With 3:23 remaining, McCord finished off his masterpiece with a 33- yard touchdown pass to Allen.

McCord’s performance put him at 4,779 yards passing on the season, his first with Syracuse after transferring from Ohio State. It also broke the ACC’s single-season passing record set by Deshaun Watson at Clemson in 2016.

“Just to sit here and, like you said, have that record, it’s crazy to see how everything comes full circle,” said McCord, who also finished a touchdown pass shy of tying the Holiday Bowl record set by Miller Moss for USC last year.

It didn’t look promising early for the Orange’s pass defense after allowing 136 of the Cougars’ 159 first-quarter yards through the air to set up one touchdown and give up another.

Wazzu wide receiver Kyle Williams was the key target in both instances, hauling in a 31-yard catch to get deep inside the red zone on the first Cougars possession and scoring on a 66-yard catch-and-run inside the final 90 seconds of the quarter.

Williams had 10 catches for 172 yards, surpassing the 168 yards receiving set by Dez Bryant for Oklahoma State in 2008.

“I thought (Williams) was one of the better receivers we went against the entire year,” Syracuse head coach Fran Brown said.

Eckhaus completed his first nine pass attempts before he was intercepted by Clark early in the second quarter.

That turnover ignited Syracuse’s 21-0 shutout in the quarter to create separation after a back-and-forth start.

First, the Orange marched 94 yards on eight plays capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Allen to take a 28-21 lead with 7:34 left in the half.

Later, Syracuse came up with a fourth-and-1 stop on its own 20-yard line with just over three minutes remaining.

With 13 seconds left, McCord put an exclamation point on the half with his third touchdown pass. The 5-yard score went to Gadsen, who had both of his scores in the half, and extended the Syracuse lead to 35-21 entering the locker room.

Brown set a new program record for first-year head coaches and finished off just the program’s third 10-win campaign since 2000.

“Coach Fran Brown had the blueprint for us,” Clark said of the milestone victory.

Added Brown: “I think the 10 wins showed that we are becoming a successful program — but we have to continue to work.”

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