Pics: Syracuse QB Kyle McCord drops warm carousel of Holiday Bowl celebrations after big win

Syracuse Orange starting quarterback Kyle McCord led his team to a 52-35 win over the Washington State Cougars in the 2024 Holiday Bowl. It marked the Orange's first 10-win season since 2018.

McCord threw for 453 yards and five touchdowns, completing 24 of 34 passes. In the process, he broke Deshaun Watson’s Atlantic Coast Conference single-season passing record (4,593 yards in 2016). He needed 268 yards coming into this game and he ended with 4,779 yards, a new benchmark in the ACC.

For his exceptional performance in this year's Holiday Bowl, he was declared the offensive MVP. On Monday, he posted a warm carousel of Holiday Bowl celebrations.

"Faith & Hard work," he wrote on X.

“Just to be sitting here and have that record now is crazy to see how everything comes full circle,” McCord said of breaking the record via ESPN.

Syracuse Orange head coach lavishes praise on Kyle McCord

Kyle McCord helped Fran Brown to become the only head coach in Orange's history since Paul Pasqualoni (1991) to win 10 games in their maiden season. Brown was impressed with McCord's work ethic as he lavished praise on the signal caller following a win in the Holiday Bowl.

“He’s not selfish at all,” Brown said. “He cares about everyone else. He’s very, very competitive. We were in the weight room, we had an old vintage weight room. They had pushups that they were doing, and he was one of the last guys to go down. Everybody stopped and he just kept going, and from that moment I knew, like, ‘Oh, this dude’s tough.’ And everyone else knew that he was tough.”

This could be McCord's last game in college. The quarterback has exhausted his four-year eligibility. However, when asked about a possible waiver from the NCAA for another year, he told Cuse Sports Talk:

“I can't confirm or deny. We'll see how it all shakes out.”

Kyle McCord, who spent his first three seasons at Ohio State before transferring to Syracuse in 2024, has compiled a career passing total of 8,555 yards on 661 completions from 998 attempts, with a solid 66.2% completion rate. He has thrown 61 touchdowns and 20 interceptions, averaging 8.6 yards per attempt. His passer rating stands at an impressive 154.4, with a career-high 164.6 rating in 2021.