The participants for Friday night’s DirecTV Holiday Bowl have arrived.

Midday Monday flights for both No. 21 Syracuse and Washington State touched down in San Diego within minutes of each other before waiting buses quickly whisking the teams to their respective downtown hotels.

The way things have gone at Washington State the past couple of weeks, it seemed the Cougars wouldn’t need as many buses as originally planned.

The team has had 27 players enter the transfer portal since it opened Dec. 9. Most notable among them was quarterback John Mateer, who reportedly was given 1.5 million reasons (dollars) to transfer to Oklahoma.

The opening point spread for the 45th annual Holiday Bowl favored Syracuse (9-3) by 4 1/2 points over Washington State (8-4) when the matchup was announced Dec. 1. The line has moved to 16 1/2 points since Mateer, who leads the nation with 44 combined touchdowns, moved on.

Another shoe dropped Wednesday, when news broke that Washington State coach Jake Dickert accepted the job as Wake Forest head coach.

That was after Washington State defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding was fired and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle left for the OC job at Oklahoma.

All this came just four days following news of Marshall bowing out of the Independence Bowl after more than two dozen players entered the transfer portal when its coach left.

The 2020 and 2021 Holiday Bowls were canceled because of COVID-related issues, the second occasion when UCLA bailed five hours before kickoff.

Was a bowl that has led such a charmed existence the past five decades about to be scrapped for the third time in five years?

“We are good to go,” Sports San Diego CEO Mark Neville said over the weekend.

Neville is a glass three-quarters-full guy, but he had to breathe a sigh of relief when saw the Cougars contingent pull up to its hotel Monday afternoon.

After Dickert’s depature, Washington State AD Anne McCoy quickly named Cougars assistant head coach/defensive line Pete Kaligis as acting head coach for the Holiday Bowl.

Washington State’s ranks are not as depleted as one might assume. Cougars players have been given the option to play in the game, even if they have entered the transfer portal.

“There’s only like three that won’t play, but all of the (other) guys will play in this game,” Kaligis said.

Mateer, running back Wayshawn Parker (transferring to Utah) and punter Nick Haberer (transferring to Vanderbilt) are expected to be the only absences.

“I understand what it looks like from the outside,” Kaligis said. “These are 18- to 22-year-old men that just got rocked. Rocked. When their world gets turned upside down like that, how do you put them at mental ease, right?

“Because they’re not sure what their options are after this game. So to say, ‘Hey, go ahead, if you want to go in the portal and still play,’ it puts them at ease to allow them to now focus and still concentrate on what needs to be concentrated on. Let’s go play this game in the right way.”

Once a new head coach is named, WSU players will have the option of pulling their names from the portal and remaining with the Cougars.

“How do you calm them down in the fastest way we could calm them down?” Kaligis siad. “They have to have options, and those options are there for them.”

The portal closes on Dec. 28. When their coach departs, however, players have an additional 30-day window to enter the portal. So Cougars players have until Jan. 18 to make a decision.

Last year, Washington State was rocked by news it had been left behind with Oregon State when the Pac-12 imploded. This year, a coaching change.

“To play football at Washington State, it builds character and resilience,” said Cougars edge Quinn Roff, a San Marcos High School graduate. “They can throw anything at us. The guys that are here and ready to play are going to give it our best — 100 hundred percent.

“We’re all hungry and ready to play a football game. All the noise has been an annoyance, but we’re going to be solely focused on winning this football game.”

Game week activities

The teams will be treated Tuesday to a tour of the USS Tripoli, an America-class amphibious assault ship. Itwas built in Pascagoula, Miss., and its homeport shift to San Diego in 2020. At 844 feet, it is the length of 2 1/2 football fields.

Part of Christmas Day for Syracuse and Washington State will be spent visiting Sea World.

The school’s bands will face off in a “Battle of the Bands” on Thursday at the Snapdragon Bowl Bash, which begins at 5 p.m. in the Gaslamp Quarter at Fifth Avenue and Market Street.

The annual Port of San Diego Holiday Bowl Parade and 5K Walk/Run are both Friday morning. Details for the events are at holidaybowl.com.

SeaWorld passes

The first 10,000 fans who enter Snapdragon Stadium will receive free one-day admission tickets to SeaWorld.

Stadium gates open at 3 p.m., two hours before the scheduled kickoff.

For the third straight year, the KGB SkyShow will follow the game.

Holiday Bowl ticket prices range from $50 to $330. Ticket information is available online at holidaybowl.com or by calling the Holiday Bowl office at (619) 283-5808.