SAN DIEGO (AP) — Kyle McCord broke Deshaun Watson’s Atlantic Coast Conference season passing yards record on a 50-yard completion to Darrell Gill Jr. on No. 22 Syracuse’s first play of the second half in a 52-35 Holiday Bowl victory overt Washington State on Friday night.
McCord, the national passing leader, came in with 4,326 yards, which was fifth on the ACC’s season list, and needed 268 yards to break Watson’s record of 4,593, which he set in 15 games in 2016 at Clemson. McCord broke the record by a yard on the pass to Gil, who made a beautiful over-the-shoulder catch.
McCord threw for 453 yards and five TDs as the Orange finished 10-3 under first-year coach Fran Brown. McCord pushed the ACC season record to 4,779 yards.
“Just to be sitting here and have that record now is crazy to see how everything comes full circle,” said McCord, who transferred from Ohio State.
“He’s not selfish at all,” Brown said. “He cares about everyone else. He’s very, very competitive.”
The coach said the Orange saw McCord’s competitiveness from the first day of workouts.
“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. He just kept showing that he’s tough and relentless,” Brown said.
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